jasencomstock replied to your quote: My first question is where are all the workers…

I think after 99 weeks a person isn’t considered looking for employment anymore, so they are not considered actively unemployed.

That might be the cutoff for benefit eligibility (not sure how this works in the US), but as far as the US BLS is concerned, unemployment can last as long as you’re looking. The breakdown goes up to five years, beyond which there’s just a category for five years or more.