For the first time in two years, the unemployment rate in the United States has fallen below 9 per cent, offering hope the economy is slowly improving. The drop in unemployment from 9 per cent in January to 8.9 per cent in February may not be huge by most standards, but after the worst downtown since the Great Depression any trend makes for good news. Businesses are now starting to hire and consumer confidence is also on the rise. President Barack Obama's top economics adviser, Austan Goolsbee, has described the figures as encouraging. But the unemployment rate is still expected to be over 8 per cent when Obama faces the next election.