It seems like the news on the jobs front keeps getting worse, with the September unemployment figure at 9.8%, double what it was when the recession began in December 2007.

According to the New York Times, jobseekers outnumber job openings at a ratio of 6:1 and not even the most optimistic economist predicts that this will improve much in the short term.

So what are you to do while wait you wait for the situation to get better? You can keep looking, of course, but you might also want to take a step back and ask yourself if the job you’re trying to hunt down is really your dream job. If your answer is “no” then now might be the perfect time to look into doing something else.

Why? Because there is a record amount of “free money” available for worker retraining and education, according to Michelle Harris, spokesperson for the New York State Department of Labor. And since state programs are federally funded, chances are good that the same holds true for your state as well.

As part of the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, these new and/or revitalized federally funded programs are typically administered by state and local governments.

For information on retraining and skills enhancement go to CareerOneStop.org. For information on returning to school with Uncle Sam’s help, if you don’t yet have a bachelor’s degree, go to Opportunity.gov.

And how are you supposed to support yourself while retraining or going to school? There’s a chance that you can actually keep collecting unemployment (legally) while you learn, and in some cases, like in New York State, you might even be able to officially call off your job search.

While this clearly isn’t the right answer for everyone, “it beats sitting home with no money,” says Abigail Smith, a loan processor who is now going back to school to learn interior design.

Best-selling author and career coach Deborah Brown-Volkman says that if the job you lost didn’t strike your fancy anyway, now may be the time to reconsider your choices. “If there’s opportunity and money to help you do what you’ve always wanted to do,” she says, “now is the time to do this.”