March 11, 2021 Spending has now far outpaced relief efforts after the Great Recession, but it's unclear if the hardest-hit Americans will recover any time soon. SHOW TRANSCRIPT The COVID-19 pandemic put millions of Americans through the wringer. We’ve seen improvements from our low points, but there’s still a long way to go. Here are some numbers: Unemployment currently sits at 6.2%. That’s less than half of the pandemic peak of 14.7%. But the latest monthly jobs report shows we’re still down 9.5 million jobs from pre-pandemic times. It also shows an additional 4.2 million people were “prevented” from looking for work due to the virus.