(CNN) -- Of all of the calculations Zainab Ibrahim made during her accounting career in Baghdad, this one was a snap.



Iraqi refugee Zainab Ibrahim lives in a modest, sparsely furnished apartment outside Atlanta, Georgia.



After a bullet whizzed by her head and death threats showed up at her doorstep, it was time, she figured, to leave. She went to Jordan four years ago and arrived last June at her ultimate destination -- the United States.



Once a target of insurgents because her job at the Iraqi Finance Ministry involved working with the U.S. military, Ibrahim is now trying to avoid another pitfall -- falling through the cracks of America's recession.



She and thousands of refugees across America who fled war and persecution just can't seem to find full-time jobs in a weak economy. And that just doesn't add up for Ibrahim, who has bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting from Baghdad University and risked her life for the U.S. government.



"It's everybody's dream being in the United States. I thought I would get the opportunity I always dreamed about," she said in fluent English in her sparsely furnished apartment outside Atlanta, Georgia. "I'm really shocked. I found out everything is slow."   View video highlights from her interview »



The recession has made life tough nationwide for refugees.



"It's the most challenging time I've seen and I've been doing this work for 25 years," said Robert J. Carey, vice president of resettlement and migration policy at the International Rescue Committee, one of several nonprofit organizations that the U.S. government pays to resettle refugees.



Lavinia Limon, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, says, "it's a significant problem."



"All refugees are required to become self-sufficient in a very fast time period. Our program is designed with that in mind. There isn't a long-term basis of support," said Anastasia Brown, director of refugee programs for the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops. "What we have right now is a situation where it's becoming more and more difficult to find employment in a very short time period."



The U.S. government resettles a limited number of refugees each year. They have full legal rights to live and work in the United States and can apply to become U.S. citizens after five years.



Both the U.S. State and the Health and Human Services departments pay for limited refugee services.



The State Department allocation for living expenses per refugee on arrival to the country is $450, a sum the department calls "modest." Individual refugees also are eligible to get eight months of cash assistance and medical assistance under the HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement.



Depending on states' eligibility requirements, refugee families could be eligible for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and Medicaid. State governments stipulate welfare benefit cash levels. There are five years' worth of social services, such as English language instruction.



Refugee agencies across America pursue various state and federal programs that can help newcomers stay afloat, but they say they rely more and more on private donations to help provide food, clothing, money and furniture. That increasing reliance on community support shows that the U.S. program for resettling refugees needs reform, resettlement agencies argue.



Three agencies -- Church World Service, Episcopal Migration Ministries, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service -- said in a recent statement that "the recession is making it harder for refugee newcomers to find jobs within 180 days of arrival as the program prescribes."



They said the government's "one-size-fits-all" approach -- the $450 per refugee and eight months of limited cash assistance plus food stamps and Medicaid -- "reflects neither what resettlement actually costs nor the importance the U.S. refugee program holds in U.S. foreign policy," they said.



The public-private partnership that has been the "genius" of the U.S. program has "fallen out of balance," with the private sector is bearing much of the cost, these agencies say.



More than 60,000 refugees were admitted to the
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question: how many refugees are there, answer: More than 60,000 | question: What is difficult to find, answer: full-time jobs | question: How many refugees were admitted to the U.S.?, answer: 60,000 | question: What is the living expense per refugee?, answer: $450 | question: How many refugees were admitted to the U.S in FY2008?, answer: More than 60,000 | question: What is the living expense allocation for a refugee arriving in the U.S.?, answer: $450, | question: What proves difficult as U.S. economy in downturn?, answer: find full-time jobs