If you think you haven’t seen any good national news lately, it could be because every silver lining has a dark cloud in front of it. Consider the spate of economic stories that the Associated Press offered Thursday. Every one appeared positive, and taken together, they offered hope that the economy warming up. But each typically went on to describe why the news was actually bad.

This one came first: “Productivity in the final three months of last year surged at a faster pace than previously thought as labor costs fell more rapidly.”

Higher productivity, in this case, translates into fewer people performing the same amount of work. We’re working harder and being paid the same or less because of layoffs and wage reductions.

Well then, what about factory orders? Surely an increase points to an upturn in manufacturing and more jobs. “Orders to U.S. factories posted the biggest increase in four months in January, led by a surge in demand for commercial aircraft. The increase was another sign that manufacturing is helping to support the economic recovery.”

Hooray!

Oops, we’re celebrating too early. The story went on to explain that the gain was “slightly below the 1.8 percent [that] economists had expected” and when transportation was excluded, “orders were up a much more modest 0.1 percent.”

How about employment rates? “New claims for jobless benefits fell last week in a sign that layoffs may be easing as the economy slowly recovers.” This is not a report that employment is rising, it turns out, but only that people are losing their jobs as a slower rate. “Any improvement in the job market is likely to be slow, as companies remain reluctant to hire. Last week’s drop only partly reverses a sharp rise in claims in the previous two weeks.”

Congress to the rescue: “The House on Thursday passed legislation giving companies that hire the jobless a temporary payroll tax break.” The downside? “Some Democrats feel the approximately $35 billion jobs bill is too puny, while others say the tax cut for new hires won’t generate many new jobs.”

Among all the economic indicators, however, the one that really gives the pulse of the country is how much people are spending, and in that report Thursday, it was hard to find anything to frown about.

Retail sales gained 3.7 percent in February, marking the third consecutive monthly increase for retailers, “resulting in the strongest retail sales gain since November 2007, a month before the recession started.”

Ah, some good news at last.