10 Signs the Economy Is Improving

The U.S. Department of Labor's January 2011 jobs report wasn't especially exciting. On top of the questionable reduction in unemployment, the U.S. only added 36,000 jobs that month.

This is a positive sign, though -- another case of small gains being a lot better than huge losses. For example, the U.S. economy lost 39,000 jobs in January 2010, and suffered losses in June, July, August and September 2010. Plus, some economists think a wave of serious winter weather hampered job growth in January 2011 [source: Censky]. The February jobs report proved them right, showing a sharp rebound as the unemployment rate dropped to 8.9 percent and the economy added 192,000 jobs [source: Klein].