US economy begins to recover but jobless rate still high

One year after US President Barack Obama was sworn in, the world's largest economy has shown encouraging signs of recovery, a sharp contrast from what the president described in his inaugural speech last January.

"Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered," he said then.

Despite the weakening job figures - unemployment in the US is roughly 10 percent - American GDP growth is expected to stabilize this year and the worst is past, some analysts said.