Background checks are an important part of the hiring process for many businesses. They are meant to help employers decide who to hire and make sure that the people they do hire are trustworthy, reliable, and qualified for the job. But how do background checks actually work, and what kind of information do they find?

A staggering 22 million Americans in the country’s labour workforce lost their jobs between January and April 2020 due to covid closures, pushing the unemployment rate up to almost 15% – the highest rate ever recorded in the 72 years since data collection began in 1948 – and a year on, the rate hasn’t changed