Lots of people have very light jobs, while they futilely wait for their good jobs to come back, for IT jobs to open up, or for their factories to return from asia.
I have never known anyone who has ever been surveyed by the government as to their employment/unemployment status, ever.I have heard of people in all other types of surveys, tv shows, political candidates, merchandising, etc, but never employment status. Seems like I would have heard of someone who was asked just once. I dont think their sample is very large, nor accurate.
By design, ofcouse.
Recoveries come from moving some people from passive to active. In other words, some who were employees become entrepreneurs and them employers (been there and done that). Then they become new targets for the "business destroyers" in various government agencies.
Others will engage in education or retraining to adapt to the new employment market. Many old jobs never come back.
One positive sign for very senior IT people: some firms are starting to "cherry-pick", hiring senior people for junior-level jobs, on the viewpoint that the IT job market won't improve soon, so they might as well get good people for their slots. I got hired on a junior-level slot. I make a third of what I did, but I'm working in my field, and its enough to pay my bills right now