August jobs report likely to point to a still-slow recovery
Economists estimate that 1.4 million jobs were added in August
The most anticipated economic report of the month will be released before Wall Street's opening bell on Friday.
According to economists, the August employment report is estimated to show that 1.4 million jobs were added and that the unemployment rate fell from 10.2% to 9.8%.
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That rate would still be just below the peak unemployment level of the 2008-2009 Great Recession.
The United States keeps regaining more of the jobs that vanished when the viral pandemic flattened the economy early this spring. Yet so deep were the layoffs that began in March that millions of Americans remain burdened by job losses that might prove permanent.
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Even at a pace of 1 million jobs a month, it will take many months to return to pre-pandemic job levels even if that pace could be sustained.
And many economists think hiring is slowing. The economy still has roughly 13 million fewer jobs than it did when the coronavirus struck in March.
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The jobs report coincides with growing signs that more companies are making permanent job cuts rather than temporary furloughs. That trend could keep the unemployment rate persistently high.
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Roughly 29 million Americans are receiving state unemployment aid, although their total benefits, on average, have shrunk by more than half since the expiration of a $600-a-week federal supplement more than a month ago. The Trump administration has set up a program that will provide some of the unemployed with $300 a week.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.