The pace of U.S. job losses may be slowing, according to two private reports released Wednesday.

Payroll-processing firm Automatic Data Processing said private-sector employment decreased by 491,000 in April, a 31% improvement from the revised 708,000 drop in March.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a loss of 643,000 jobs last month

Separately, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported that the number of layoffs announced in April fell for the third straight month.

Job cut announcements by U.S. employers totaled 132,590 in April, an improvement of 12% from March's 150,411 cuts. It was the lowest total since last October, according to Challenger, but the April figure was still 47% higher than job cuts announced in the same month a year ago.

The government/non-profit sector was hit the hardest for the second month in a row, Challenger said, with 27,624 announced job cuts in April. The automotive industry had the second highest tally of planned cuts, thanks in part to further cuts announced at General Motors.

"Job cuts are still at recession levels, but the fact that they are falling is certainly promising and may suggest that employers are starting to feel a little more confident about future business conditions. Hopefully, the next few months will bring further relief, as we tend to see downsizing activity slow during the summer months," John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.

Employers have announced 711,100 job cuts so far this year. That is 145% percent higher than the 290,671 job cuts announced in the first quarter of 2008, Challenger said.

While some recent economic indicators have suggested the economy is stabilizing, employment is likely to decline for "several more months," according to Joel Prakken, Chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers. But the pace of the decline in the job market could be less rapid than it was in the last six months, he added.

The reports set the tone for the government's monthly jobs report due Friday. The Labor Department report is expected to show that the economy shed 620,000 jobs in April, less than the 663,000 reported for March, according to a consensus estimate of economists complied by Briefing.com. The unemployment rate is predicted to rise to 8.9% from 8.5%

SOURCE: CNN