[jyl]

So the economic recoveries after 1991 and after 2001 didn't really happen, and neither did the stock market runs in those periods? Those were so-called "jobless recoveries" too.

Which were not actually "jobless", since employment was very strong by the latter part of the 1990s and the latter part of the 2000s. They are better called "jobs later" recoveries.

The economy has changed over the past several decades. Instead of bouncing right back, coincident with GDP and other coincident measures, employment takes longer to turn around.

And even the employment situation is getting less bad than it was. Initial unemployment claims peaked some months ago and have been falling ever since - that is a good indicator of recession-end. Job losses have recently started slowing, even before the sharp drop in the July number released today. We may be seeing the climb in the unemployment rate start to slow, again, see the July number.