(bars indicate rate of job loss)

In February only 36,000 jobs were lost keeping the unemployment rate at 9.7%. This news has caused mild relief on the part of many economists who were foreseeing a larger molt in the job market due to heavy snowstorms that swept across the Northeast and Midwest this past month. Some believe that the figures are depressed by the blizzards and that a rise can be expected.

While the loss is still that, a loss, it is dramatic when compared to the more than the 650,000 lost in February of 2009, the nadir of the recession. Such news has provided hope for the springtime, when American employers slowly begin to prepare for the change of season with new hirings. Many believe that the slow trickle of job losses will soon become a gain.

On Thursday the House of Representatives passed a $15 billion dollar bill to offer tax breaks to businesses in order to increase hiring.

The markets are up as a result. Look for the Dow to close above 10,500 today for the first time since December. This news shows that recovery has begun, albeit slowly.