I haven't had a job in over 2 years - not that I haven't been trying. Today I got a response from hr in a company I sent a resume. It said that they see I haven't worked in over 2 years and asked me what I've been doing during that time. Can they ask that. How do I answer it. Seems that saying starving and looking for handouts might not help me.

It is perfectly correct for a company to ask you to explain all unemployed time.

It's important to fill in resume job gaps with volunteer time or some other productive thing like school or part-time jobs or caring for an elderly relative or starting your own company. Otherwise, you look unmotivated.

Answer the question honestly. Because of the current job market, you are not the only one in your situation. Other than looking for work, how did you fill your time? Volunteer work, PTA, church choir, book club, care for child? Any of these types of things are legitimate answers.

Tell them that you did job in some non related field like data entry or something . You are not the only one who didn't get the job . I myself engineer and its been 1 year I haven't got any job but I try to collect internship in this time as much as I could but still waiting for response from companies.