When the GDP shrinks for two consecutive quarters, six months, it is called a recession.

The GDP is measured in dollars. When the money supply grows faster than the economy the excess money tends to drive prices up. That is called inflation.

The dollars used to measure the GDP are adjusted for inflation before the real economic growth is reported. If the inflation adjustment is accurate, economic growth will be presented properly. If inflation is understated, the economy can appear to be growing when it is not. Periods of slow economic growth may be periods during which the economy is retracting.

One other factor for consideration is population growth. The U.S. population has been growing and continues to grow at a rate of just under 1% per year (0.89%). Some of this growth is from more births than deaths and some is from net immigration. If the real economic growth fails to keep pace with population growth, the inevitable outcome is a reduction in the mean standard of living.

Since 2008 the US Economy has been losing jobs. The GDP has been growing but this growth has not translated into jobs. As of June 2010 the economy was sustaining 140 million jobs which is effectively the same as it had in 2004 and only 2% more than it saw at the end of 2000.

The following table is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on total employment. The table shows the total civilian workforce (in thousands of jobs).

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2000	134912(1)	135490	136054	136927	136685	137915	137769	137308	136790	137532	137461	137846	136891
2001	136181	136577	137155	137022	137121	137737	138239	136809	136835	136885	136370	136269	136933
2002	134177	135443	135558	135903	136559	137181	137495	137295	137377	137551	136684	136599	136485
2003	135907(1)	136433	136783	137424	137567	138468	138503	138137	137731	138619	138700	138556	137736
2004	136924(1)	137384	137691	138423	138867	139861	140700	140226	139641	140447	140581	140278	139252
2005	138682(1)	139100	139759	140939	141591	142456	143283	143142	142579	143340	142968	142918	141730
2006	141481(1)	141994	142772	143405	144041	145216	145606	145379	145010	146125	146014	146081	144427
2007	144275(1)	144479	145323	145297	145864	146958	147315	146406	146448	146743	147118	146334	146047
2008	144607(1)	144550	145108	145921	145927	146649	146867	145909	145310	145543	144609	143350	145362
2009	140436(1)	140105	139833	140586	140363	140826	141055	140074	139079	139088	139132	137953	139877
2010	136809(1)	137203	137983	139302	139497	139882

 
However in this same time period unemployment has more than doubled.

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2000	6316	6284	6069	5212	5460	5959	6028	5863	5359	5153	5336	5264	5692
2001	6647	6523	6509	6004	5901	6816	6858	7017	6766	7175	7617	7773	6801
2002	9051	8823	8776	8255	7969	8758	8693	8271	7790	7769	8170	8209	8378
2003	9395	9260	9018	8501	8500	9649	9319	8830	8436	8169	8269	7945	8774
2004	9144	8770	8834	7837	7792	8616	8518	7940	7545	7531	7665	7599	8149
2005	8444	8549	7986	7335	7287	7870	7839	7327	7259	6964	7271	6956	7591
2006	7608	7692	7255	6804	6655	7341	7602	7086	6625	6272	6576	6491	7001
2007	7649	7400	6913	6532	6486	7295	7556	7088	6952	6773	6917	7371	7078
2008	8221	7953	8027	7287	8076	8933	9433	9479	9199	9469	10015	10999	8924
2009	13009	13699	13895	13248	13973	15095	15201	14823	14538	14547	14407	14740	14265
2010	16147	15991	15678	14609	14369	14885

 
So looking at the big numbers there are about 230 million people in the 16-65 age range in the US. 140 million of them have jobs. 15 million are looking for work but are unemployed. That leaves 75 million not interested in civilian employment. Some are in jail or employed in the underground economy, some are in the military, some are still students, some are disabled, some have retired early, many more are raising their families.