Why America's impressive 5% unemployment rate feels like a lie for so many

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The 5% unemployment rate, other words, is hiding the devastating story of underemployment, wage loss, and precariousness that defines life for millions of Americans.

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Since 2008, the labor participation rate has fallen from a high of 67.3% in 2000 to 62.6% today. That 62.2% represents a 38-year low, which puts Bloomberg's claim of a 42-year-low in joblessness in perspective. The jobless number is "low" only because more people are no longer considered to be participating in the workforce.

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Some... have resorted to participating in the "1099 economy," willingly or unwillingly. Freelance and contract workers move from low-paying gig to gig in professions like journalism, arts and entertainment, private transportation, and higher education, trying to scrape together enough cash to survive.

The number of Americans working in this capacity grew from 10.1% in 2005 to 15.8% in 2015, according to new research from labor economists Lawrence Katz and Alan Krueger. David Dayen describes their life as stressful and uncertain: "You're cut off from any safety net that relies on employers. You have an unpaid, part-time job consisting of getting your next job and making sure you get paid for your last job ... You have no advocates for you in the workplace, and little bargaining power to improve your lot."

So far, the government does not seem particularly interested in these details. If you work for a mere hour per week and make $20, you are still considered employed, according to Gallup.

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The problem is compounded by post-recession "job growth" that has been concentrated in low-wage industries--the kind of industries whose labor exploitation has prompted mass protests across the country. Meanwhile, middle-class jobs continue to disappear. 44% of new jobs created between 2008 and 2012 were in low-paid service work, according to a report by the National Employment Law Project. Only 22% of jobs lost at that time fell into this category.