This wasn’t an “average” recession.

From Calculated Risk:

…. [The] graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms, compared to previous post WWII recessions. The dotted line is ex-Census hiring.

This shows the depth of the recent employment recession – worse than any other post-war recession – and the relatively slow recovery due to the lingering effects of the housing bust and financial crisis….

[emphasis added]

Today, via Twitter:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

MT @gopconference: This “recovery” has produced 4mm fewer private sector jobs than the average post WWII recovery [….] 11:57 AM – 12 Jun 13

Uh, if you have a “recovery” there has to be an “economic downturn” to recover from, right? Who was responsible for that? Wait, wait, it’ll come to me…