Mary Schwartz

World Press Photo, a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands, recently announced the winners of its 2012 photojournalism contest. More than 5,000 photographers from 124 countries submitted over 100,000 pictures to the competition. Top honors this year went to Samuel Aranda for his image of a woman holding a wounded relative during protests in Yemen. The prize-winning photographs will be assembled into an exhibition that will travel to 45 countries over the next year. Below is just a sample of this year's group of winners -- please visit the World Press Photo website to see them all. (See also the winners from 2011.) [32 photos]

First prize winner in the Spot News Singles category of the 2012 World Press Photo Contest, this photo by by Yuri Kozyrev, Noor Images for Time, shows rebels in Ras Lanuf, Libya, on March 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Yuri Kozyrev, Noor Images for Time)

According to the latest jobs numbers, issued by the Labor Department on January 6, the U.S. unemployment rate has dropped to 8.5 percent, down from 10 percent in 2009. The Great Recession has claimed more than 8.5 million jobs since 2007, and even though the current trajectory of the U.S. appears to be toward recovery, Americans are still struggling to find work. Nine of the photographs below appear in The Atlantic's January/February 2012 print issue, and I've added 25 more here to round out a collection of images from these years of uncertainty -- of men and women both at work and out of work in the United States. [34 photos]

A workman steams a U.S. flag in preparation for a planned visit by President Barack Obama, on April 6, 2011, at wind turbine manufacture Gamesa Technology Corporation in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The best photos of 2011 from around the globe. Warning: All images in this entry are shown in full, not screened out for graphic content. Some images contain dead bodies, graphic content and tragic events. We consider these images an important part of human history.

MILK LINE: People waited Thursday to receive free milk from the Milk from the Heart program, which makes deliveries to locations in the Manhattan and Bronx boroughs of New York. Milk prices in the Northeast are about 19% higher than two years ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

BARE BASSINET: Weld County Sheriff’s Deputy Mary Schwartz reached out to a toddler as a home-foreclosure eviction was carried out in Milliken, Colo., Wednesday. (John Moore/Getty Images)

UNDER A WATCHFUL EYE: An armed guard watched inmates as they were evacuated to another prison during flooding in Ayutthaya Province, Thailand, Thursday. Deadly typhoons and monsoon rains have slammed Thailand. (Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

RICE SACKS: A worker carried a sack of rice at a warehouse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday. (Irwin Ferdiansyah/Associated Press)

LIGHT ON THE SHOULDERS: A Hindu secured burning oil lamps to his body during rituals for the Dashain Festival near Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday. The festival commemorates the slaying of a demon king by Hindu goddess Durga. (Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press)

HEAVY HAUL: Demonstrators rallying for education reform carried large stones as they clashed with police in Santiago, Chile, Thursday. Police responded with water cannons and tear gas. (Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)