The unemployment rate rose to the highest level since 1983, a full one-half percentage point above the 8.9% in April. Normally, losing more than 300,000 jobs in one month and seeing the jobless rate near 10% would be cause for alarm. But May's job losses are the lowest since September and were only half the average monthly losses in the last six months.
In the present climate, that is seen as the latest in a series of signs that the economy is beginning to turn around. Home sales are up. Consumer confidence is improving. The stock market has rebounded since hitting a 12-year low in March. "The pace of the recession finally seems to be slowing," said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project.
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