Jobless claims drop; job openings rise

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Companies are laying off fewer workers and advertising more job openings, two encouraging signs that arrived a day before the government issues the September jobs report.

But economists say employers aren’t ramping up hiring fast enough to reduce the unemployment rate, now 9.6 percent. Some economists expect the rate to top 10 percent by early next year.

Companies at least aren’t laying off so many workers. Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits for the fourth time in five weeks, the Labor Department said Thursday.

A separate report showed job openings rose in August for the second-straight month. Private-sector employers advertised the highest number of available jobs since November 2008, the report said.

But the increases aren’t enough to turn the job market around anytime soon, economists said.

“The data that we’re seeing is still consistent with a very slow jobs recovery,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Meyer forecasts that the economy will generate about 50,000 jobs a month for the next six months. That isn’t enough to keep up with population growth, much less absorb the nearly 15 million unemployed. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch expects the unemployment rate to reach 10.1 percent by the middle of next year.

Economists forecast the government will report today that private employers added a net total of 75,000 jobs in September, about the same as the 67,000 added in August. The jobless rate is expected to tick up to 9.7 percent from 9.6 percent.