A report issued by the Commerce Department on Friday says that the economy grew by 2% in the third quarter, matching forecasts for the GDP, and is slightly higher than last quarter. While economists agree that a 2% growth rate is not high enough to do much about unemployment, they say that keeping the economy from sliding back into a recession is important. Last week's jobless claims fell, and home and store sales have increased. Last month the economy lost 95,000 jobs, as governments laid off employees.
See "U.S. Economy Grew at 2% Rate in Third Quarter", Michael Powell, The New York Times, October 28, 2010