A projected 140,000 gain in December payrolls is the median forecast of 61 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before the Jan. 7 report from the Labor Department. The unemployment rate may have eased to 9.7 percent from 9.8 percent. Other reports may show faster growth at the nation’s factories and service industries last month.
Bigger employment and income gains may help boost sales at companies like Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., allowing the expansion to become well-rooted. Even with the labor market improvement in 2010, it will take years to make up for the 8.4 million jobs lost during the 18-month recession that ended in June 2009.
“Things are improving but it’s a gradual momentum that’s building,” said Michelle Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research in New York. “It all comes back to the labor market and so far the jobs recovery has been disappointing.”
Estimates for the increase in December payrolls ranged from 95,000 to 215,000 after a 39,000 rise a month earlier and a 172,000 gain in October.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-02/employment-probably-rose-bringing-2010-u-s-job-gains-to-about-1-million.html
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