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The term “jobless recovery” is back in use to describe the current state of economic affairs. With a reported 5.9 percent annualized jump in gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2009, observers sense that the economy is once again growing despite 300,000 jobs being eliminated during this same period.

The oxymoronic term jobless recovery was first popularly used to describe the aftermath of the 1990-91 recession. Unlike previous recessions, when job growth began just a few months after an upswing in the economy took hold, the unemployment rate continued going higher for almost one year after the GDP stopped shrinking. This happened again following the 2001 recession, when it was almost two years after the economy bottomed before unemployment declined.

The divergence of economic output and employment suggests a new kind of recovery driven mostly by productivity increases rather than payroll gains. In the fourth quarter of 2009, productivity increased by a record 6.9 percent on an annual basis. In addition, the jobless aspect of an economic recovery relates to structural changes in the economy. The permanent job loss often replaces the temporary layoff, and jobs shift from one industry to another or from one place to another.

Perhaps implicit in the term jobless recovery is the notion that the recession, declared to have begun in December 2007, is over. If so, it hasn’t been declared over by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the non-governmental organization that officially decides such things.

Some analysts have suggested that the recession will be declared to have ended in the summer of 2009.

As for employment, although the rate of job losses has substantially dropped, the February employment report was a negative 36,000 jobs. So whether we are still in recession remains in question.

Even if the recession is over and a sustainable economic recovery is under way, the fact is that 8.5 million jobs have been lost since the start of the economic downturn.

The last decade began with a national payroll level of 130.8 million jobs, and it ended at a level of 130.9 million. During that time, the labor pool rose from 146 million to 159 million. So there are about the same number of jobs as a decade ago, but 13 million more workers are competing for them.

The Economic Policy Institute estimates that for employment to return to pre-recession levels in the next three years, employment will need to grow by 415,000 jobs per month. How will these jobs be created, and will policy-makers caught between rising debt and high unemployment foster solutions that will have a significant impact on job creation without squelching economic growth? The past 30 years clearly show that lower levels of unemployment correlate positively with higher levels of economic growth.

Peter Percival is a registered investment adviser at Syverson Strege & Co. in West Des Moines.