As the Senate prepares to rush through the “Health Care Wealth Confiscation Act of 2009″. Much of the bigger problems facing America are being pushed aside.

One figure looms large but is often overlooked: nearly 1 in 5 Americans is either out of work or under-employed.

According to the government’s broadest measure of unemployment, some 17.5 percent are either without a job entirely or underemployed. The so-called U-6 number is at the highest rate since becoming an official labor statistic in 1994.

The difference is that what is traditionally referred to as the “unemployment rate” only measures those out of work who are still looking for jobs. Discouraged workers who have quit trying to find a job, as well as those working part-time but looking for full-time work or who are otherwise underemployed, count in the U-6 rate.

With such a large portion of Americans experiencing employment struggles, economists worry that an extended period of slow or flat growth lies ahead.

“To me there’s no easy solution here,” says Michael Pento, chief economist at Delta Global Advisors.

“Unless you create another bubble in which the economy can create jobs, then you’re not going to have growth. That’s the sad truth.”

Many workers believe those jobs aren’t coming back, and have thus quit looking and added themselves to the broader unemployment count.

“In the earlier part of this decade, 40 percent of all new jobs created were in real estate. Attorneys, mortgage brokers, agents, construction—they were all circled around housing,” Pento says. “We’ve had a jobless recovery in the last two recessions. This is going to be the third jobless recovery in a row.”

We need jobs not health insurance, now more than ever.

Read More: CNBC