Jobs, Good News | featured news

U.S. employers expect to hire more new workers in 2010 than they did in 2009, a sign the U.S. recession may be easing its grip, research showed on Tuesday.

The U.S. labor market improved in November, with the number of jobs lost in the private sector falling again and the number of planned layoffs also easing, separate reports showed on Wednesday.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless insurance hit a nine-month low last week and retailers reported their first monthly sales gain in over a year on Thursday, easing fears that recovery from recession would be unsustainable.

Even as the July numbers came in better than expected, the job market remains shaky in the months ahead.

GE said it will open a manufacturing-technology center in Michigan that will eventually employ more than 1,100 workers.

The number of newly laid-off Americans filing jobless claims fell more than expected last week and retail sales grew in May for the first time in three months, fresh evidence that the worst of the recession may have past.

The U.S. unemployment rate was the highest in 26 years, the government said on Friday, but the loss of 345,000 jobs in May, fewer than expected, was seen as a sign that the job market was no longer in free fall.

Discounter Wal-Mart Stores Inc says it will add more than 22000 jobs in its US namesake stores in 2009.

The 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.

The pace of private-sector U.S. job losses slowed dramatically last month, while future planned layoffs also declined, and the hard-hit housing sector showed signs of improvement last week.