When is a recession truly over? Technically, it’s over when the economy starts producing again. But if you think about it, the recession isn’t really a distant memory until the economy reaches pre-recession levels.

So, the good news first. Despite recent weak job numbers, overall the economy has been adding an average of 172,000 payroll jobs per month. The bad news comes when you look at the big picture we won’t be at pre recession levels until sometime in 2015. (Assuming the rate stays consistent)

The graph shows the difference between a sluggish recovery of 125,000 payroll jobs per month and more healthy growth of 200,00 per month.

(The graph and figures do not include population growth or new entrants into the workforce)

When compared to previous recessions we can see that the current one has been the deepest.Barring some crazy resurgence in job growth, recovery will be long, lacklustre and lousy.