Undulating Unemployment

During 2/20, the unemployment rate was 3.5%. There were 5.7 million unemployed persons and the labor force, composed of those working and those looking for work, was 164.5 million. During 10/21, the unemployment rate was 4.6%, composed of 7.4 million unemployed individuals and a labor force of 161.4 million. Since Covid-19, the ranks of the unemployed are up by 1.7 million, and the labor force is down by 3.1 million.