I haven’t looked at the exact numbers, but they could be exactly right in that the total (raw) number of employed could now be back to the level it was at in 2008. However, as noted, because of population growth, the economy is still millions of jobs short of where it needs to be, and indeed even with so many out of the workforce (and therefore not counted) the percentage of the still-available workforce that is employed is still lower than it has been in decades.
I read somewhere that if you count the hours lost due to full time jobs replaced by part time jobs, we have actually lost about 100,000 jobs over that time frame. I don’t recall where that was reported, so I’m hoping another Freeper can post the reference.
What does “employed” actually mean now? I believe that if someone was working forty or more hours a week in 2008 and earning forty dollars an hour but is now working ten hours a week at minimum wage he would be counted as employed now just as he was counted as employed in 2008.