Zandi predicted that the economy will be strong enough over the next 18 months to restore full employment, with an unemployment rate of around 3.5%, by spring of 2023. That would represent a three-year recovery in the labor market, which lost 22 million jobs after the pandemic tore through the economy in March and April of 2020. That would mark an unusually swift recovery. After most recessions, the economy usually takes five or six years to achieve a full jobs recovery.