In what can be termed as a strengthened sign of the easing recession, the May job-cut figures revealed by the Labor Department on Friday mark the lowest number in the past eight-month period! Though the 345,000 jobs slashed in the US in May increased the jobless rate to 9.4 percent, the job-losses remained much below the economists' expectations.

However, despite the lesser number of job losses in May, the jobless rate soared to its highest rate in more than 25 years, underlining fears that unemployment may likely touch double digits.

A complete economic recovery may still be a distant thought, with the plunge in wage rate growth bringing the annual rate of average hourly earnings growth to its lowest level since November 2005. As per the median of 76 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, payrolls were projected to plunge 520,000, with estimates ranging from declines of 450,000 to 600,000.

Predicting a "slow recovery" from the catastrophic downturn, economist David Malpass, who is the president of Encima Global in New York, said in a note to clients: "The rate of decline has slowed some, but the losses to date are causing sharp declines in U.S. per capita income."

Nonetheless, the better-than-anticipated job-losses report by the Labor department helped Wall Street stocks move moderately higher and then retreated later!