It is becoming increasingly difficult for unemployed individuals in the usa to find work, and this trend casts a shadow over other statistics that demonstrate a resilient labor market that shows almost no signs of problems. Among approximately 7 million job seekers, over 40% have tried for at least 15 weeks without finding work — a figure that was relatively rare in the post-World War II era until the global financial crisis in 2008. The typical duration of unemployment is becoming longer, further indicating that the booming job market during the pandemic's reopening in 2022 and 2023 is no longer present. Former Federal Reserve economist Claudia Sahm recently compared the current situation to the 1960s sci-fi thriller television series 'Twilight Zone' in a Bloomberg column.