According to a statement made by the National Economic Council Director, Larry Summers, while a full economic recovery may take its course to materialize, the stimulus plan of the Obama administration is working and the past few months have seen the economy stabilize.

Saying that joblessness may likely rise in the months ahead, as the complete impact of the $787 billion stimulus plan may be felt only until 2010, Summers remarked: "We were at the brink of catastrophe at the beginning of the year, but we have walked some substantial distance back from the abyss."

In his speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics - a non-partisan think-tank which focuses on global economic policy - Summers said that with the business and consumer confidence having risen, there are indications that the gross domestic product of the country "is on a close to level path with prospects for positive growth to commence during this year."

Mentioning of yet another optimistic, yet unusal, indicator of the progress on the road to recovery, Summers said that Google searches for "economic depression," which had increased by a factor of four, are now back to their pre-recession levels!

Summers also added that another cause for optimism is the slowing pace of economic contraction; and the fact that the Wall Street institutions that received federal aid have started showing unexpectedly better earnings!