| Hiring accelerated enough last year to make 2011 the strongest year for hiring _ by far _ since 2006. |
| Yet so deep were the jobs lost during the Great Recession and for months afterward that it will take years to recoup all the losses. |
| In 2011, the economy added 1.64 million jobs. That’s far more than the 940,000 created in 2010. For 2012, economists surveyed by The Associated Press predict that nearly 2 million jobs will be added. |
| The recession began in December 2007, and the economy began losing jobs consistently starting in February 2008. Over the next 25 months, employers slashed nearly 8.7 million jobs. In the bleakest month, January 2009, a net 820,000 jobs vanished from the economy. |
| The recession officially ended in June 2009. But the nation still has 6 million fewer jobs than when the recession began. |
| Job growth (annual, total numbers) |
| 2011 1,640,000 |
| 2010 940,000 |
| 2009 –5,063,000 |
| 2008 –3,600,000 |
| 2007 1,092,000 |
| 2006 2,078,000 |