8.4 million jobs lost in 2008 and 2009 -- roughly 7% of all jobs

There were 8.4 million jobs lost in 2008 and 2009 -- roughly 7% of all jobs at the start of the recession. That compares to a loss of 3.1% of all jobs during the 2001 recession and the jobless recovery that followed, and only 1.9% of jobs lost during and after the 1990-91 recession.

And there are concerns about the fact that job growth has slowed dramatically from the spring of this year when employers were adding about 200,000 workers a month to payrolls. Even at that pace of hiring, it would take more than three years to get jobs back to pre-recession levels.

Right now, it's not even close. Overall payrolls, excluding the temporary boost from census jobs, have increased by an average of just 12,000 jobs a month over the last three months.