U.S. job losses

U.S. job losses softened markedly last month, sending one of the strongest signals yet that the severe recession may be winding down. Nonfarm payrolls slid 345,000 in May, the U.S. Labor Department said, well below the 525,000 decline economists expected. The drop was the smallest since September 2008, when the recession intensified in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The unemployment rate, which is calculated using a survey of households as opposed to companies, jumped 0.5 percentage point to 9.4%, the highest level since August 1983. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124420479347588831.html#mod=djemalertNEWS