The number of jobs lost in the current recession won’t be recovered until 2013, according to a better-than-consensus economic growth forecast by economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

If the economic growth rate remains at 3.5 percent, it could take until sometime in 2013 before all jobs lost in the downturn are recovered, say JPMorgan’s chief economist Bruce Kasman and David Hensley, director of global economic coordination, according to a note released to clients last week, Bloomberg reported.

The estimated growth rate until 2013 is 2.4 percent, according to a median of forecasts from economists polled by Bloomberg.

Their prediction came after last week’s unemployment figures showed that employers cut 263,000 in September. So far 7.2 million jobs have been lost since December of 2007 and the unemployment rate currently stands at 9.8 percent.

Kasman and Hensley say key economic indicators that they will be watching to determine the accuracy of their predictions will include production figures from Asia and weekly unemployment insurance claims in the U.S.

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