Between February and April 2020, the US economy lost over 22 million jobs, almost 15 percent of total employment. That was by far the largest job loss since the early years of the Great Depression. Between 1929 and 1932 or 1933 (depending on whose numbers you use, since there are no solid, official stats), 20 to 25 percent of jobs disappeared (again, depending on whose numbers you use). Since World War II, however, the worst contraction, the Great Recession of 2008–9, killed just over 6 percent of all jobs — a big number, but well short of 15 percent.

Since April 2020, we’ve recovered just over three-quarters of the jobs lost early last year. That’s a healthy chunk, but it still leaves employment over 3 percent below February 2020’s level, a loss that would qualify as a sharp recession in more normal times. The recovery remains highly incomplete.

I haven’t mentioned unemployment as a measure of labor market damage because it tells only a partial story. To be counted as unemployed, you have to be actively looking for work, and many people just aren’t looking, either out of discouragement or disgust with the jobs on offer. The labor force — the sum of the employed and the officially unemployed — is over 3 million, or 2 percent, smaller than it was before COVID hit. While the unemployment rate of 4.8 percent in September isn’t terrible by historical standards, and is well below April 2020’s peak of 14.8 percent, the 3+ million who’ve withdrawn from the labor force wouldn’t be properly accounted for. In any case, we’re still a long way from February 2020’s 3.5 percent.