In what many economists cite as further evidence of the recession bottoming, the drop in non-farm payrolls fell by only 345,000 in May, the smallest decline since September, the United States Department of Labor announced Friday. However, the unemployment rate rose from 8.9 percent to 9.4 percent last month, the highest level since 1983.

"Rather than a sign of renewed vigor, the May jobs report suggests merely the end of panic unleashed last fall," the New York Times says. Although the payroll drop in May was less than previous months, the number of unemployed persons rose by 787,000 to 14.5 million. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the economy has lost 6 million jobs and the number of unemployed persons has risen by 7 million, the Labor Department adds.

Still, the easing of job losses coincides with improvements in other economic indicators, such as consumer confidence and the purchasing managers index, perhaps signaling the start of recovery. "[M]ost economists predict the economy will be growing again by the end of next quarter," according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Last month, the construction industry finally slowed its furious pace of job cutting, with construction employers cutting 59,000 jobs, compared with 108,000 in April. The services sector, which accounts for 80 percent of U.S. economic activity, shed about half of the jobs in May than it did the month prior and also added 3,000 positions.

Manufacturing is still laying off large numbers in comparison, dropping 156,000 jobs in May. This sector has slashed 1.6 million jobs over the past year.

Government Offers Aid to "Rust Belt"
President Barack Obama's administration is offering aid packages to offset the bankruptcy filing and restructuring of General Motors Corp. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced plans to provide $49 million to Michigan to help retrain laid-off workers.

GM's plans to shed several major brands and 40 percent of its U.S. dealer network, and to close or idle 14 American plants, which has imperiled as many as 21,000 workers in the U.S. and a total of 47,000 worldwide.

The GM bankruptcy process is expected to last 60 to 90 days, which, according to the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), is the best possible scenario. If the bankruptcy process for GM and Chrysler LLC go beyond three months, CAR says employment and production would fall by 90 percent and the U.S. could lose more than 1.3 million U.S. jobs as a result.

Ford Boosts Production
Despite a 24.2 percent sales decline in May, Ford Motor Co. says it will increase its North American production by 10,000 vehicles to 445,000 in the second quarter and by 42,000 vehicles to 460,000 in the third quarter.

The automaker says it will increase production after it managed to boost its market share to the highest point in three years. Attributing the increase to the popularity of its new models, Ford says sales have been improving, noting that its May sales of 155,954 were higher than any month since July 2008. Additionally, Ford said it managed to reduce its inventories to a 56-day supply of 350,000 vehicles, down 41,000 from the end of April and 210,000 less than the year prior.

China Launches Anti-Dumping Case
China's Ministry of Commerce has initiated an anti-dumping investigation against the U.S. and Russia for their imports of grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel. China is questioning whether the steel, used in power transformers, was sold below market value by U.S. and Russian mills.

This is China's first investigation into imports of U.S. steel and comes on the heels of steel dumping complaints filed by seven U.S. steelmakers for stainless steel pipes used in oil production. "Last month, a U.S. trade panel unanimously approved a government probe that could lead to steep U.S. duties on an estimated $2.6 billion of the U.S. imports," IndustryWeek reports. (See: China Accused of Steel Dumping)

As the tension between Chinese and American steelmakers continues to escalate, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made his first trip to China to reassure the Chinese — the largest holders of U.S. government debt — that the country's investments in the U.S. are "very safe." Geithner also stressed that the Obama Administration would soon unveil a comprehensive overhaul of financial system regulations designed to fix the flaws exposed by the current crisis. "[A] successful transition to a more balanced and stable global economy will require substantial changes to economic policy and financial regulation around the world and especially in the U.S. and China, the world's largest and third largest economies," the Associated Press reports Geithner as having said.

U.S. Courts Scientists with Visas
In an effort to prevent foreign researchers and scientists from seeking opportunities elsewhere, the U.S. Department of State announced plans to speed up visa applications for foreign researchers, students and scientist.

U.S. universities have voiced concerns that foreign students — who account for many graduate and post-doctoral spots in science and engineering programs — would turn to other countries due to the difficulty of obtaining visas. Visa difficulties have also discouraged scientific organizations from holding meetings in the U.S., the New York Times reports.

Currently, it is taking 75 days to acquire a visa. The delays are attributed to the Visa Mantis program that is designed to weed out specific science students or scholars who pose a threat to national security. The State Department officials say they have made procedural changes and added staff to shorten the visa-approval process for researchers to two weeks. Last year, the U.S. issued around 56,000 such visas for graduate students in high-tech fields, scientists at research laboratories and scholars attending academic conferences.