Historical US Unemployment

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/166664/economics/historical-us-unemployment/

According to Google, the current unemployment rate is 4.1%.

https://www.google.com/search?q=unemployment+rate+in+the+united+states&rlz=1C1ONGR_enUS1066US1066&oq=unemployment+rate+in+the+United+State&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBggBEEUYOTIHCAIQABiABDIICAMQABgWGB4yCAgEEAAYFhgeMggIBRAAGBYYHjIICAYQABgWGB4yCAgHEAAYFhgeMggICBAAGBYYHjIICAkQABgWGB7SAQkxMDE5OWowajSoAgCwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I remember unemployment being a big issue in the 1970s.  The trend since then seems to be slowly downward.  However, this says nothing about the quality of jobs.

The bottom line is that I don't see a strong reason for protectionism.

Reportedly, every job saved through protectionism can cost consumers hundreds of thousands of dollars up to a million dollars.  

I remember one economist, I'm not sure who, talking about the fallacy of wanting full employment.  He said that for the government to guarantee people jobs is more costly than just supporting them through welfare programs.  I don't know if this is true, and it might be better to have people working.