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The unemployment rate in the United States has marked a slow down, which is the first positive economic news for President Barack Obama in more than a month, economists have said. According to New York Daily News, the US Labor Department has reported that there were 374,000 first-time unemployment claims last week, the lowest weekly total since May 19. Plus, following encouraging fiscal news from Europe , Obama was able to breathe a sigh of relief when the Labor Department released the nation's first positive economic news in weeks. The 374,000 initial claims for unemployment aid last week have gone down from 380,000 the week before, according to the federal government. The week's total is the lowest since May 19. It's a sign that layoffs are slowing down and that a wave of hiring could be on the horizon, according to economists. The number of people who apply for benefits generally provides a measure of the pace of layoffs, and when it falls below 375,000, the unemployment rate usually drops. The Labor Department will reveal the full unemployment details on Friday, and the release will be carefully watched by those in the White House and Mitt Romney's Boston headquarters. Last month, the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.2 percent, which Republicans seized upon as evidence that Obama's economic policies were not working. That continued a string of bad fiscal news for the President, whose re-election will likely hinge on the fate of the economy.

Obama gets good economic news with unemployment rate marking slow down