As of July, 15.6 percent of working wives had a husband who was not on the job, up a stunning 3.5 percentage points from early 2007, when 12.1 percent of working wives had a husband who was not employed. Since the recession began, many families are struggling with unemployment of both the husband and wife, Boushey said in her report.

And what kind of strain does that put on a marriage?

You probably already knew.

"There have been some days when I thought we wouldn't make it," Bobbie said. "It's been extremely frustrating and crazy. We argue a lot over finances."

"We are definitely fighting more," Juan said.

It's been difficult for Bobbie -- and me -- to get Juan to work on managing what little money they do have coming in.

"It's just hard when you are the one with no income," he said.

Juan hopes things will turn around now that he's signed up for a series of technology courses at a local community college. The training will help prepare him for to become a Cisco Certified Network Associate.

"The Cisco Networking Academy enables individuals like Juan Wilson to obtain jobs involving a broad spectrum of IT and networking equipment, not just Cisco's," said Carroll McGillin, a Cisco spokesperson. "Skills and knowledge from such programs are in high demand despite the distressed economy as today nearly every new network requires new experts to design, build and maintain the collaborative infrastructure highway that the public and private sector both depend on."

McGillin said employment rates for those who graduate from the program vary, but people who achieve IT certification are often "fast-tracked" to employment and receive higher pay compared to those who do not hold certifications.

It's that hope of getting a job fast that led the Wilsons to scrape together the $644 in cash for the tuition and fees for the first course.

"Hopefully, I'll benefit from this training," Wilson said.

The waiting and the doubting are over for Rick Rose.

After 15 months of unemployment, he's working again. He was hired in August as marketing and communications manager for a new partnership between the Brookings Institution and the John M. Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

"It was a pretty tough process," said Jackson Nickerson, director of the Brookings-Olin partnership. "Rick had the maturity, good communication skills and on top of that great marketing skills."

Rose said having a job makes him feel normal again.

"Having an interesting, motivating job is a great reason to get up in the morning," he said.

There is a bit of down news along with this great news.

Rick had to take a huge pay cut. He's now making $50,000 a year.

"I guess I could look at it as 41 percent cut, but I choose to look at it as a 100 percent increase from no income," Rose said. "It is going to be an adjustment, I know. But I see this as a foot in the door. There is a lot of room for growth. I don't see it as a setback at all."