Unemployment needs to jump 40-50%??? Is this guy seriously that utterly disconnected with reality? In Aus it’s never hit more than 12% in the last 4 decades, the economy would just collapse if unemployment got that high. It only got to 32% during the Great Depression in the US.
It is low now, but also (in the US) the last few administrations played games with how they defined it, mainly by excluding people who had basically given up on finding employment.
That’s nothing new. That’s how it’s always been defined. I’m not unemployed if I’m not looking for work. Otherwise housewives would be unemployed, disabled people, pensioners, etc.
The one weird part is people transitioning just are counted towards the unemployed numbers even though they have a job coming.
If unemployment is 10%, then the actual amount of people who aren't employed anywhere is 50%. Because the laborforce participation rate is only 60% of the population.