"Our economy is showing signs of real strength," Obama said at a UPS shipping facility(设施设备) in Maryland.

    Data from the Labor Department Friday showed that the unemployment rate in March dropped to 8.8 percent, the lowest level in two years. It has been falling for four consecutive months, down from 9.8 percent in November 2010.

    "The unemployment rate has now fallen a full point in the last four months, the last time that happened was during the recovery in 1984," Obama said.

    Economists expect that the economy may create 2.5 million jobs over the rest of this year.

    "Now, despite that good news, everybody here knows we have a lot more work to do. There are still millions of Americans out there who are looking for a job that pays the bills," Obama said.

    Total number of unemployed Americans decreased by about 200,000 in March to 13.5 million. That is still about double the total that were out of work before the recession began in December 2007.

    Obama said even as he deals with crises around the world, the U. S. economy is his first priority.

    According to the latest government data, the U.S. economy grew at 3.1 percent in the forth quarter in 2010, quicker than the 2.6 percent pace in the third quarter of 2010. It was the best quarterly showing since the start of last year. For all of 2010, the economy grew 2.9 percent, the most since 2005.

    Another report from the U.S. Institute of Supply Management (ISM) on Friday showed that U.S. manufacturing sector grew for the 20th consecutive month in March.

    In a recent interview, C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Xinhua that he was "quite optimistic" about the U.S. recovery this year. He projected that the overall economy would grow at a near 4 percent pace.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)