Christina Romer Says Job Growth Expected by Spring

2009 closed with a disappointing jobs report, but most are confident a turnaround is imminent:

But even with the poor end to the year, the pace of job losses has slowed dramatically from the beginning of 2009. There were 741,000 jobs lost in January, the worst total in 60 years.

Some economists said that this broader trend is more important than the bigger-than-expected losses in December.

"I don't see this as a setback. We're still on the right trend here," said Tig Gilliam, CEO of Adecco Group North America, a unit of the world's largest employment staffing firm.

Gilliam said he's expecting job growth to resume in the first three months of this year, perhaps as early as February, and that gains of about 200,000 to 300,000 jobs a month by the middle of this year are possible. CNN