Following up Chris' post from earlier today about the drop in new unemployment claims, April's numbers on job losses are out. They're not as bad as expected, which provides another glimmer of economic recovery. So, there are signs of hope as the unemployment rate hit 8.9%. It's also a sign that the stimulus bill might have been a good idea after all:
The United States economy lost 539,000 jobs in April, the government reported on Friday, a sign that the relentless pace of job losses was starting to level off slightly. A year ago, the loss of more than half a million jobs in a single month would have seemed like a disaster for the economy. On Friday, experts were calling it an improvement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate surged to 8.9 percent in April, its highest point in a generation. But some economists saw glimpses of a bottom in the latest grim accounting of job losses. The economy, while still bleeding hundreds of thousands of jobs, is starting to lose them at a slower pace, offering the latest hint that the recession is bottoming out.The people who know these things expected higher job losses in April:
Economists were expecting job losses of 600,000 in April, and predicted the unemployment rate would rise to 8.9 percent from 8.5 percent in March.
