The pace of the US economic recovery has slowed or even stopped in parts of the country over the past few months, the Federal Reserve found in a survey of businesses released Wednesday. The US central bank's Beige Book, released about once every six weeks, suggested many businesses have grown more pessimistic about the state of the world's largest economy, dpa reported. "Economic activity has continued to increase, on balance, since the previous survey," but the pace of that activity was weak, the Fed said of its latest report, which compiles data from 12 regional districts. Businesses centred around the Midwestern cities of Cleveland and Kansas City said economic activity had only "held steady" since the last Beige Book, while the Atlanta and Chicago areas said the pace of growth had "slowed recently." Many other regions said "increases were modest." The pace of job gains had also improved only "modestly" across most regions, the survey found. Boston and Dallas businesses said the job market had levelled out in their region. The US jobless rate has remained at 9.5 per cent despite the economy's recovery from a deep recession in the last two years.
