Well, that wasn't was we were hoping for. But even so, the past few months in which employment had gone sideways means that after 9 months of recession, employment is where it was at this time in the previous two recessions:
Another series I'm watching is hours worked. It's much more choppy than employment, but it's more closely related to movements in GDP:
Once again, after a sharp fall at the beginning of the recession, hours worked has now bounced back up to where they were at the same point in other recessions.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Geez. ’81-’84 was a real horror show. Glad I was only 7 years old when it hit. I was looking at the employment graphs for the US over at CalculatedRisk. Canada seems to be much better off than the US this time around.
It was a horror show in the housing market as well, if I remember correctly. Prices fell a lot. A lot of foreclosures and negative equity. I’m not even sure if 81-84 Canadian housing market might not be about as bad as the current 08-09 US housing market.
81-84 was brutal. It hit while I was doing my undergraduate, and while my cohort (the largest in the Canadian demographic pyramid) was entering the labour force.
So I went to grad school…