Washington - All signs point to the United States exiting its worst recession in decades as the government prepared to report growth figures for the third quarter on Thursday.

Economists are predicting an annualized growth rate of 3.2 per cent over the three summer months, according to a survey by Bloomberg News, likely ending a recession that has plagued the world's largest economy since December 2007.

The new growth figures cap months of improving news about the state of the US economy. Financial firms have reported billions of dollars in profits - a year after many were on the brink of collapse - while housing sales and consumer spending are stabilizing.

Yet the difficult times will likely continue for much of the population. Unemployment sits at 9.8 per cent, the highest in 28 years, and is expected to reach 10 per cent in 2010. The jobless rate has doubled since the recession began, as 7.6 million people have lost their jobs.

"It's certainly our hope that we'll demonstrate for the first time ... in more than a year growth in our economy," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday. "We still have, in the president's mind, much work to do and to ensure an environment that is helping to create jobs."

President Barack Obama's administration has credited massive public spending with helping to pull the economy out of its longest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

But some economists fear that government spending has pushed the US budget deficit to unsustainable levels, and warn that the country could experience another decline in growth when the
787-billion- dollar stimulus, approved in February, runs out.

Only about half of the stimulus money has been spent so far. Congress is currently debating extending some of its measures, including longer unemployment benefits and tax credits for home buyers. (dpa)