A new survey by Career Builder shows people are almost to the point of sifting through the garbage in order to survive. I'm being sarcastic, but this is really bad.

Nearly a quarter of U.S. laid-off workers are relying mostly on unemployment benefits or financial aid, and almost as many are cutting back spending to get by, according to research released on Wednesday.

Asked to list their primary means of making ends meet, a sixth said they are using savings and a fifth said they are relying on a spouse or partner to support the household, according to a survey of unemployed workers by CareerBuilder.com, an online jobs site.

The most common answer was unemployment benefits, at 23 percent, and cutting back spending to just necessities, at 20 percent, it said.

Six percent said they sold some belongings, 5 percent are taking odd jobs, 4 percent are living on credit and 3 percent moved home or added a roommate.

Roughly 14.5 million people were unemployed in the United States as of May, according to government statistics. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, that figure has risen by 7 million people, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So what about all of those without families who are stuck with permatemp jobs, which do not give unemployment benefits?

Also, most unemployment benefits do no actually pay all of the bills, so even if one is chosen to get some help, it's not covering everything.

As the unemployment situation goes on and people run out of resources, I imagine this situation will get much worse.

Here are some latest statistics on homelessness, April 2009 and Monetary County, CA just announced their homeless rate increased 71%.

What I find interesting is the lack of recent data on the homeless rate in a search for statistics.