Numerous business leaders sign a pledge against discrimination of long-term unemployed workers. 

In an effort to get Americans hired, The Obama administration drafted a pledge to eliminate bias against those out of work. About 300 businesses have signed vowing to not weed out individuals from being considered for a job based on unemployment status. Companies who signed the pledge include Wal-Mart, Bank of America, Ford and Apple.

President Obama announced a 150-million grant program for non-profit organizations that connect unemployed workers to hiring companies. 

The aim is to "establish best practices" Obama said, "Do not screen people out of the hiring process just because they've been out of work for a long time," according to the LA Times. 

Studies show people unemployed after one month face discrimination and it doesn't matter whether workers quit voluntarily or are laid off by their companies. Research also unveils that hiring managers won't even look at resumes of job applicants unemployed more than 6 months. 

Ryan Ghayad, a graduate from Boston University Metropolitan College conducted an experiment showing the relationship between job vacancies and unemployed people. He sent 4,800 fictional resumes to firms around the U.S., all resumes were the same except duration of employment. He gave his analysis in an interview with the college's magazine. "The experiment revealed very little response for applicants with long-term unemployment. Even if you come from the same industry as the prospective employer, those employers are more likely to prefer someone with no relevant experience, but shorter duration of unemployment," he said. 

Career experts say networking can help offset discrimination during the hiring process. In an interview with WNPR News, Ofer Sharone, career development professor at MIT Sloan School of Management said, "Social networking is the best way to avoid employer bias until this type of discrimination is eliminated."