probably misleading. “Jobless” does not mean all people able to work that are not working, it just meansthe number of those they have on the jobless rolls.
Exactly so.
The US labor force took a huge hit, 2008-2011, from which it has recovered only very slowly. The unemployment rate has been uniquely misleading since then as it doesn’t account for the decline of the labor force.
There is still an enormous “reserve army of the unemployed” out there.