Analysts’ hopes rise ahead of jobs report

June 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Fewer people are filing claims for unemployment aid, new jobs are showing up in service industries, and companies are squeezing all they can from lean staffs and may need to hire soon.

Hopes for the job market brightened Thursday ahead of a closely watched report on the nation’s employment picture — although experts cautioned that the economy probably isn’t creating jobs as quickly as usual after a recession.

Economists predict the May jobs report, due out this morning, will show the nation added 513,000 jobs in May.

But most of them, as many as 400,000 by some estimates, will be temporary government jobs to help with the census.

The unemployment rate is expected to fall slightly, to 9.8 percent from 9.9 percent.

Though analysts say layoffs will keep tapering off and companies will gradually hire more, a lack of strength throughout the economy complicates the recovery.

Americans’ appetite for spending has eased. Manufacturing output has been strong, but that’s mostly because businesses are replenishing their stockpiles after slashing them during the recession.

Unless Americans pick up the pace on spending, manufacturing could fizzle. And consumer habits are closely tied to employment and wage growth.

“We have a very mixed picture at the moment,” said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight.