If the unemployment rate dips by a decimal or two in the upcoming employment report, it’ll be seen as an indicator that the economy is improving. But millions of Americans will remain without work.

Journalist and documentary maker DW Gibson set off from Orange County, California to New York City last summer on a sort of unemployment oral history project. He interviewed dozens of Americans who have found themselves out of work in the past five years.

They included a human resources director who was laid off herself after dismissing hundreds of her colleagues, a real estate agent who arrived at work one morning to find his office empty, and a college graduate who was fired one week into her first job. DW Gibson’s project has resulted in a book called “Not Working,” and an upcoming documentary of the same name.

Listen to the interview on The Takeaway