from WSJ:
U.S. job losses softened markedly last month, sending one of the strongest signals yet that the severe recession may be winding down.
Still, another jump in the unemployment rate to a fresh 25-year high served as a sober reminder that even if the economy does stabilize in coming weeks, a rapid return to growth is unlikely given the pressures households face from a sluggish labor market.
Nonfarm payrolls slid 345,000 in May, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday, well below the 525,000 decline economists in a Dow Jones Newswires survey had expected. Last month's drop was the smallest since September 2008, when the recession intensified in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
