Janet Yellen, head of the US Federal Reserve, thinks that these people can be employed if she keeps interest rates low.  Her opinion has punch because she has power.

Economists at the Brookings Institute disagree.  They find the longterm unemployed do not get call backs after job interviews, in part because they have been unemployed for a long time.

Most economists agree that the real problem is matching skills with jobs.  Can the long term unemployed be retrained for jobs that are available?  Is there a government policy that might encourage corporations to employ the long term unemployed?

Can a seemingly intractable problem in the US be solved?