US employment for 2019 was 158M (then a record high), falling sharply to 148M in 2020, and recovering to 158M in 2022; it's currently 160M: https://www.statista.com/statistics/269959/employment-in-the...

(It is true that the _percentage employed_ hasn't recovered after covid; given the US's aging population it's possible that that figure will _never_ rise to where it was again. As they say, you can prove anything with statistics....)