Earlier quoted context omitted.
It feels like _something_ is happening, but it's not quite the recession that people are fearing. The US is somehow at the lowest unemployment rates we've seen and people are saying it's all going to collapse which just feels off. If the US hits 5% unemployment that simultaneously worse off than where we are but still a solid economic position. My pet theory is that everyone is just tired, so damned tired, and seeps…
Remember that people that are not employed are only considered "unemployed" in that metric if they have been "looking for a job". If you stop looking for 4 weeks, you're not employed but not "unemployed" (in their numbers).
The BLS collect and categorizes this data in every conceivable way. You can see, for example, that the duration of unemployment is actually quite low compared to previous recessions: https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/duration-of-...