I don't mean to say the data is invalid, but you're using the data to imply this experience and others like it are invalid. Maybe you don't mean to do that but that's what it sounds like.

Your point about zip codes though doesn't really make sense to me for a few reasons.

Firstly, from the data that i can find, in my state the unemployment rates are only a little worse than the national average, in the "not great, but not hell" range you describe (report).

Secondly, a little over half of the positions I'm applying for are remote ones across the country, so they'd have to be discriminating on my zip for some reason, including the ones whom I never told where I live. The one employer that briefly got back to me was a local one just a county over for what that's worth.

Thirdly, I only share a zip code with one of my friends, and he's in the 'has a job and lives with his parents' camp; his job is also utterly unrelated to what he studied in university (though to be fair it's in a field with historically poor employment).

From what I've seen, some people are getting jobs after getting layed off. The problem is that now I, with <1 year of experience, am now competing with others who have 3-5 for the same position. No company in this economy is going to choose me outside of a gamble.