It’s been three years of some rough stuff, but Americans are starting to report that when they’ve changed jobs, it’s been for something better paying or a higher-level position, according to a report from Experian Simmons.

According to the research firm, 6.5% of those who changed jobs in the last year moved into a better spot. No, it’s not much, but it turns out that moving up has never been something experienced by the majority of the population. In January 2008, when the economy was still mostly strong (the official start of the recession came in December 2007, but took months to ripple through the general economy), 9.9% of Americans said they had moved into better jobs in the previous year. The latest figure is also up significantly from April’s 4.6%.

Some further “good” news, that just 2.4% of Americans who switched jobs in the last year moved into lower level or lower paying positions. Bright side.

We’re not jumping up and down about any sort of real recovery yet, and the current unemployment and new-jobs numbers (9.8%; a mere 39,000 new jobs) indicate a seriously bleak backdrop. Which lends a sort of cognitive dissonance to Experian’s claim that slightly more Americans are starting to look hopeful about job opportunities (8.2% compared to 6.6% in July). But let’s take the good news where we can.

Call me a Grinch, but the holidays are never more daunting than when you’re sitting down to make your shopping list for friends and family. After so many years, you’ve probably cycled through the same items many times over (I know I have!). So here are some ideas and commentary from the folks at Cardpool.com who suggest they’re for “lazy gift-givers.” I sure hope my family isn’t reading this, but I probably fall into that category. Hope you find this as helpful as I did, and if you’ve got additional please add to the list in the comments below. Happy holidays!

1.       Cardpool.com

Gift cards. That are up to 30% discounted. What’s not to love? That means you can buy the people on your “nice” list cards for some of the top retailers, restaurants, movie theaters and even airlines without breaking the bank.

2.       Whatever of the Month Clubs

For everyone on your list, there’s a gift of the month club – bacon of the month, beer of the month, jam of the month (for the Christmas Vacation fans out there) – get your creative juices flowing. Murray’s in New York even has a meat of the month club delivered nationwide – a gift that keeps giving year round.

3.       Netflix / Hulu

Who doesn’t love movies? Purchase a gift certificate for Hulu Premium so your gift recipient can stream the newest shows without all the ads.

4.       Shutterfly.com

You can use your own photos to print out aprons, coasters, mugs, key chains, etc. This is one of those gifts that will make you look like you really gave it the personal touch. Just upload a photo on a site and let it do all the hard work.

5.       Spafinder.com

Spafinder takes the spa gift certificate to the next level. Let your recipient pick out the spa and the treatment without putting your bank account in the red.

Those of you who are experiencing funemployment and traveling on the cheap may be interested in a deal that HostelBookers is promoting this season. It’s offering big discounts on already crazy cheap hostels in warm-weather locations like Miami, Lima, and Cancun. Discounts start at 20% and go up from there, which means you can stay in Brisbane, Australia for about $10 a night. Customers must book by Dec. 5 and travel by Jan. 31, so go find your backpack.

Where does poverty live? In the U.S., we think of it existing in rundown rural trailer parks or dangerous inner city neighborhoods. Today Zachary Roth digs into the the rise in suburban poverty brought on by the recession. More poor Americans now live in the suburbs than in cities. That may especially be a problem because “many suburbs may not be as well set up as urban areas are to provide much-needed social services,” he says.

Heading into a yoga class in Miami last week, I met a woman who was also from New York. Like most of us, she walked fast and talked fast. But even for a New Yorker she seemed a little…on edge.

She worried aloud about whether she was experienced enough for the class, worried about where she was going to go next, worried about the apartment she’d bought in a neighborhood she didn’t like.

During our conversation it emerged that she’d lost her job a couple of years ago and was still unemployed. I sensed that her jobless state didn’t cause her sprawling anxiety, but it did seem possible that it was part of a dreadful spiral—unemployment feeding unhappiness, making it harder to find a job, which caused more unhappiness.

In August, 30 percent of Americans who were unemployed had been out of work for over a year, according to an analysis by the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative. That’s about 4.4 million people—not just a big economic problem, but a big psychological one.

So how do you keep your chin up if you’ve been jobless for a while? Here is some of the advice out there (and in here):

Get out. “Isolation is a dangerous thing,” psychiatrist Robert London told Forbes. “When you live in your head, you ruminate and feed your depression,”

Give yourself structure. “Having a schedule you can rely on will help keep you from going insane,” says CNNMoney.com.

Start something. We know a little something about this. Whether it’s a blog, new business, or home repair project, having something to invest in can be invaluable.

As a friend of mine recently advised, “If it’s not working, change something.” If you’ve been relentlessly hunting for the same job you had and not getting anywhere, it might be time to re-examine your career goals.

Mix it up. Take on some freelance assignments, get a part-time job (even if it pays crap) and/or do some volunteer work. Modern Gal dishes out advice from a friend who was unemployed for months, and who was burned out on revising her resume.

Travel. Adventures don’t have too cost a lot of money, and taking a literal step back from your life can give you perspective and inspiration. Leaving town for a week will not make you miss out on a job opportunity.

Be thankful. Gratitude journals can sound silly, but being aware of the good things in life—even if they seem few and small—can be powerful stuff. Take five minutes every day to write down what there is to be grateful for. Positive tidbits really add up.

One of the upsides of the recession is that it cut back on the amount of unnecessary spending in America. We were shelling out too much for clothes, appliances, video games, cosmetics, car accessories—you name it. And then we were spending on stuff to store all the stuff we’d bought but didn’t have a place for.

But all that stuff, ironically, has been a boon in the recession, argues Virginia Postrel in an interesting Wall Street Journal story this weekend. When we had to cut back on spending, we could turn to our personal storehouses of tee shirts and tube socks.

As a result, we’ve been much better off, materially speaking, than people who lived through the Depression. In the Depression, your average middle-class worker’s wardrobe had fewer than 15 things in it. Today we’ve got an average of 92—not including PJs and underwear. That provides for an awful lot of shopping in your closet. And because we have so much clothing, things last longer, because we can rotate more often.

Good thing or bad thing? As Postrel points out, we might be more selective about what items we add to our closets, if we are going to have to wear them for a long, long time.

Miami has a lot going for it–sun, Art Deco style and carb-loaded Cuban food. But just try finding work there.

A new report from job search engine Juju.com ranks the job search difficulty in 50 US cities. Washington DC is the locale where you’re most likely to score a gig–it has 1.18 unemployed people per advertised job opening. Miami, meanwhile, comes in at the bottom of the batch. For every job ad, there are more than nine people looking for work. Detroit is an unsurprising second. Check out the rest of the rankings below:

99er n./ a person who has gone through all 99 weeks of unemployment benefits.

This is one of the sadder definitions in our recession glossary. According to a story in the New York Times several days ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by June, 1.4 million people had been out of work for at least 99 weeks–the maximum time you can collect unemployment, even with all the extensions that Congress has tacked on to give people more of a safety net in tough times.

Let’s put that a different way: A population almost the size of Philadelphia has been out of work for nearly two years. Discuss.

Since 2009, LearnVest has been providing sharp and seriously useful money advice for women. Now, the site has launched a series of email bootcamps to get readers ramped up financially. The investing unit costs $7.99, but the Cut Your Costs and Personal Finance Basics Bootcamps are free. You don’t have to be a personal finance dork (like me) to appreciate that deal.

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the huge money-saving deal at Restaurant.com. It’s ending today–so get 80 percent off dining gift certificates ASAP, with the discount code PLATE.

From today’s New York Times:

Many economists — concerned about the sluggish pace of job creation, dwindling housing activity and decelerating retail sales — say that slowdown is continuing this summer and have recently downgraded their expectations for the second half of the year.

Read more here.

It’s not just a load of Web 2.0 hype—you can find a job using social networks, according to Brad and Debra Schepp.

“ We’ve spoken to many people who use LinkedIn, Twitter and even MySpace to find jobs—regular 9-to-5 jobs or consulting gigs or freelance work,” says Brad, who with his wife authored How to Find a Job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Other Social Networks.

I get pitched a lot of job-hunting books. Most of them should have been made into pamphlets instead. But after my first glance through the Schepps’ book, I quickly made a few adjustments to my LinkedIn profile—and I’m not even looking for a job. Here are ten of their tips for getting the most out of social networks.

Get on LinkedIn

The site has become so widely used, that if you don’t have a profile, “it might give an employer pause,” Brad says.  “That’s often where they first check people out.”

Join Groups

That includes industry, nonprofit and alumni groups on LinkedIn. Once you join, you are automatically linked to everyone else in the group, so you can start becoming a thought leader. “If you belong to the humane society group and you are posting info about disaster relief and animals, people are going to think of you in that way,” Brad says. Debra was even approached by an agent after she answered a question about deadlines in a writing group. “She said she liked my ethic and asked if I would be interested in her representing me,” she says.

Post Things That Help You Get Found

LinkedIn allows you to share an “update” with others, which you can use to turn up in people’s searches.  “If you write an interesting blog post or read an interesting journal article, put it on your Linked in profile,” Debra advises. “Someone who is searching for related keywords might end up coming upon you.”

Don’t Use the “U” Word

If you happen to have been laid off, don’t tell everyone you’re unemployed—especially in a status update. Spin it in a positive way. “You might want to say something like, ‘Enthusiastically pursuing opportunities in IT,’” Brad says.

Follow Companies You’re Interested In

Twitter and Facebook let you see updates from companies, and now LinkedIn does too, Brad points out. Updates about a new business, new hire (or a new departure) might clue you in to opportunities. Employers have also been known to post jobs on their Twitter feeds.

Check Out People with “Your” Job

Look for people who hold a position you would like to have, and examine their profiles. What keywords do they use? How do they describe their work? “It will help you frame your experience in the same kinds of terms that other people are searching for,” Debra says.

Use “Consulting” Carefully

“It’s a really bad idea to say that you’re freelancing or consulting unless you really are,” Debra advises. “It’s going to come up in an interview and if you can’t back it up, it’s going to look bad.”

Don’t Lie

Desperate times may seem to call for corresponding methods. “Nowadays with the internet, it’s way too easy to find out that something isn’t true,” Brad warns.

Don’t Connect Generically

“Suppose you go to a seminar and the speaker is really fabulous and you leave with their business card. If you just send them a canned [LinkedIn] invitation, what’s in it for that person to open up her network?” Debra says. The Schepps advise sending a customized message to each person. If you’re building your network, start with former colleagues you know. “Say something like, I’m so glad to see you on LinkedIn, and I’m eager to find out what’s going on with you. Please join my network.”

Enhance Your Resume

Use LinkedIn’s tools to show more of what you can do. Link to your website or Twitter feed, and include slideshows of your work, Brad suggests.