Just a quick note, private U.S. employment is currently 129 thousand below the pre-recession peak. With the release of the March employment report next Friday, private employment will probably be at an all time high.
However total employment is still 666 thousand below the pre-recession peak due to all the government layoffs. Total employment will probably be at a new high sometime this summer.
I guess I'm going to have to retire the following graph soon ... (once call the "THE SCARIEST JOBS CHART EVER").
This graph shows the percentage of payroll jobs lost during post WWII recessions through February.
This is total non-farm payrolls, so I'll be posting this for a few more months.
Of course this doesn't include growth of the labor force ...