Outsourced to Dean Baker (emphasis mine):

The NYT had a peculiar account of the state of the economy in its lead up to the state of the union address. At one point it told readers that:

“several indicators show that the economy is in its best shape since he took office in 2009.”

This is peculiar since it would have been true in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 also. In effect, the recession could be seen as throwing the economy into a big hole. We have been climbing out of the hole ever since. It would take an extraordinary turn of events to throw us back down to the bottom of the hole so the real question is the rate at which we get out of the hole. Thus far the rate has been quite slow. Even if we sustain the somewhat faster growth rate projected for 2014 we would not be getting out of the hole (measured as returning to full employment) until the end of the decade.

Sure, things could be much much worse but they aren’t great.  The employment-to-population ratio has been flat for the past four years:

See here for employment-to-population ratio data.