I doubt the number is correct! 150,000 unconfirmed transactions is huge can slow the network down. After enabling the segwit, the number of unconfirmed transactions have come down to 1000 - 4000 level since a long time now! You can check the statistics below,
https://www.blockchain.com/btc/unconfirmed-transactions
Currently a bitcoin transaction with correct amount of fees usually takes 15-20 minutes of time to receive 3 confirmations from the network. Yes, it's still slow but once we will have lightening network enabled for everyone, it will be somewhere around few seconds to a minutes. The solution is being tested and beta run has already started. You can check the below website to know about its progress,
https://lightning.network/
Hope this helps! But I am still wondering when you have seen 150,000 unconfirmed transactions in recent times??