Dont forget about the large number of people under-employed or taken jobs that are below their qualifications/education.
People coming out of college today as bartenders in order to make ends meet are not counted in the Labor department stats because they are technically “employed.”
A 50 year old acquaintence of mine lost his long time sales/executive job about a year ago in a layoff. He went for months looking for work and finally found a job - working the floor at Lowes. His young adult daughter thought it was funny when she said, “I’m a checker at Safeway and I make more than dad”.
It’s not funny.