The Labor Department's employment report released Friday shows some encouraging signs of improvement in the labor market and the recession-hit economy - with the
539,000 jobs slashed by US employers in April marking the smallest number since October!

The April job losses figures were not as bad as most mainstream economic forecasters had anticipated - their projections pointing to a number in excess of 620,000. However, even with the somewhat eased pace of job-cuts during the month, the total lay-offs, since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, has increased to over 5.7 million.

Despite the fact that the April figures can be considered a positive drift - indicating that the US economy could well be bottoming out -, they have been counteracted by the increase in the unemployment rate from March's 8.5 percent to 8.9 percent, which is the highest level since 1983.

Talking about the present and future labor market scenario, chief economist Mark Zandi, of forecaster Moody's Economy. com, said: "The job market is bad, but not as bad as expected, and headed in the right direction. Monthly job losses averaged 700,000 in the first quarter and appear on track to lose 500,000 in the second quarter. There will be another 2.5 million in job losses, and unemployment will peak at 10 percent by this time next year."