Editor’s note: In a report that aired earlier this week about a Manhattan job fair, Paul spoke at length with Philip Mereday, a former executive who had been out of work for about a year. Mereday, a college graduate…

In new signs that the recession may be ebbing, orders for big-ticket manufactured goods rose by 1.9 percent and the number of new jobless claims fell, although the number continuing to receive unemployment remained at the highest level since 1967.