US unemployment hits 25-year high
Photo: White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers forecast that the unemployment rate would rise above its 25-year high.
A US government report says the US economy lost 539,000 jobs in April, catapulting the unemployment rate to 8.9 percent -- its highest point in a generation.
The Labor Department"s report on Friday signaled that the relentless pace of job losses was starting to level off slightly.
Estimates had projected the April job losses to rise to 590,000 against March which witnessed hemorrhages of 699,000 jobs.
Some economists say that the better-than-expected data hints that the recession is bottoming out and economic activities are expected to gradually recover toward the end of the year, Reuters reported.
"It"s a confirmation that we"re in the early stages of a turn," the New York Times quoted Ethan Harris, co-head of United States economic research at Barclays Capital, as saying.
"We"ve just had a big dose of monetary and fiscal stimulus, and we"re getting further and further removed form the confidence shock of last fall. All these forces are sort of gathering right now," Harris said.
Near six million jobs have been consigned to the scrapheap since the start of the recession in December 2007.
Other links:
Iran: Obama fishing in troubled waters
Terrorists will Receive IRI strong reaction
President: Zionist regime formed by misusing Holocaust
Threats come from Washington not Iran
Obama: I want Bush to succeed with Iran
Israel, US clash over Iran solution
US will not follow UK on Hezbollah
Israel ‘has faith in team Obama’
Shoe thrown at bush
