Sidney LaFontant shops for a dishwasher with her husband and their son, at P.C. Richard & Son appliance store in New York, 4 Sep 2009The latest measure of the U.S. economy shows that it is contractingmore slowly than anticipated -- another indication to some economiststhat the country is ready to emerge from its worst recession sinceWorld War II.

A report Wednesday by the U.S. CommerceDepartment said the country's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank at aseven-tenths of a percent annual rate during the April through Juneperiod (known as the second quarter).

U.S. officials initiallyforecasted a one percent decline for the world's largest economy, butthe report said businesses and consumers did not cut back on spendingas much as anticipated.

GDP is a measure of all the goods and services produced in the United States.

However,a separate measure of business activity in the Midwestern U.S. - fromthe Institute for Supply Management-Chicago - shows business activityacross the region shrank in September, indicating the recovery willlikely be slow and uneven.

Meanwhile, a report from privateresearcher ADP Wednesday said U.S. employers eliminated 254,000 jobs inSeptember -- the fewest job cuts in more than a year.

The ADP company gathers the information as it processes payrolls for millions of workers at thousands of U.S. companies.

Thereports on GDP and employment, combined with other recent economicdata, have encouraged many economists, who now believe the U.S. pulledout of the recession in the third quarter (the July through Septemberperiod).

These economists also point to the emerging impact ofthe U.S. government's $787 billion stimulus program and otherinitiatives, like the so-called "Cash for Clunkers" program designed toboost auto sales.

Still, the U.S. economy has been battered bythe recession, having declined at a 6.4 percent annual rate over thefirst three months of the year.  And a recent survey on consumerconfidence finds many Americans are worried about keeping their jobs.

Accordingto the latest government estimates, the U.S. economy has lost 6.7million jobs since the recession began in 2007, pushing theunemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.7 percent in August.

ACensus Bureau report Tuesday found the country's poverty rate rose to13.2 percent for 2008, the highest it has been in 11 years.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.