Economic data keep getting better

Bloomberg reports April US employment data.

Payrolls in the U.S. shrank last month by the least since October as employers detected signs the worst of the recession had passed and government hiring stepped up for the country’s next census.

Payrolls fell by 539,000, after a 699,000 loss in March, while the unemployment rate rose to 8.9 percent, the highest level since 1983, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The Commerce Department separately said that wholesalers reduced their supply of unsold goods for a seventh month in March...

Revisions subtracted 66,000 from payroll figures previously reported for March and February.

Meanwhile, Canada reported on Friday that its economy actually added jobs in April.

Canada’s economy produced new jobs for the first time in six months in April as workers facing the first recession since 1992 created positions for themselves.

A net 35,900 people found work during the month and the jobless rate stayed at 8 percent, the highest in seven years, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa...

The day's data weren't all positive for Canada though, as housing starts in April fell to 117,400 units on an annualised basis compared with a revised 146,500 in March.

Still, nowadays, good news is not hard to find, and the recent economic data for Germany look quite good. Reports on Friday showed that industrial production held steady in March and exports actually rose 0.7 percent. And the improvement could persist as a report on Thursday had shown that manufacturing orders jumped 3.3 percent in March.