I wrote this essay in 2020, at the start of Covid. We use percentages to hide figures, but the "official" rate was at about 16%, and a slew of reports believe it was more like 25%. I calculated the figure and included the percentage of job loss for undocumented workers. The rate/figure is much lower now, but the US is a fricken disaster.

It's a real pain in the ass to get any information, but if you look through the percentages and do the math, you'll get the figure. I've also provided reports from some news outlets (I hate Forbes, but this article is ok).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2020/08/20/jobless-claims-574-million-americans-have-sought-unemployment-benefits-since-mid-marchover-1-million-people-filed-last-week/

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/11/unemployment-rose-higher-in-three-months-of-covid-19-than-it-did-in-two-years-of-the-great-recession/

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/new-weekly-figures-show-almost-40-million-people-lost-their-n1211886