WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, and
a private survey showed businesses stepped up hiring in August. The
data sketched a brighter outlook for the job market one day before the
government reports on August employment.
Weekly
applications for unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 to a seasonally
adjusted 365,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week
average, a less volatile measure, ticked up to 371,250.
Unemployment
benefit applications are a measure of the pace of layoffs. When they
consistently fall below 375,000, it suggests that hiring is strong
enough to lower the unemployment rate.
Separately,
payroll provider ADP said businesses added 201,000 jobs last month.
That's the most reported by the survey since March. And ADP said July
job growth was stronger than first thought: Employers created 173,000
jobs - 10,000 more jobs than the group reported last month.
"The
labor market is getting better and while the pace of improvement is
nothing great, the direction is clear," Joel Naroff, president of Naroff
Economic Advisors, said in an email to clients.
Despite the positive signals, most economists tempered their expectations for August payroll growth.
The
ADP survey only covers hiring in the private sector and excludes
government job growth. The Labor Department's report on Friday will
offer a more complete picture. The two surveys reported roughly the same
private-sector job creation in July. But they have diverged sharply in
previous months.
And the drop in applications
likely won't affect the August jobs report, set to be released Friday.
The data for that report were compiled three weeks ago. But it could
signal better hiring in September.
Economists
forecast that employers added 135,000 jobs last month, while the
unemployment rate is expected to stay unchanged at 8.3 percent.
Weekly
unemployment applications "are still stubbornly high, which is
consistent with our expectations for a modest employment report in
August," said Bricklin Dwyer, an economist at BNP Paribas
In
July, employers added 163,000 jobs. It was the best month of hiring
since February and an improvement from the average of only 73,000 per
month created in the April-June quarter.
Still,
the economy grew at a tepid 1.7 percent annual rate in the April-June
quarter, down from the 2 percent rate in the January-March quarter and
4.1 percent in the final three months of last year.
Growth
at or below 2 percent is typically too weak to lower the unemployment
rate. Most economists expect the unemployment rate will remain above 8
percent through the November election.
President
Barack Obama will address the Democrat National Convention in Charlotte
on Thursday. Polls show most Americans regard Republican nominee Mitt
Romney as better able to handle the U.S. economy.
Romney
and his Republican allies have pointed to high unemployment as evidence
that Obama's policies are not helping the economy. The unemployment
rate was 7.8 percent when Obama took office and has been above 8 percent
for the past 42 months. Most economists say "normal" unemployment is 6
percent or less.
But Obama and his allies have focused on more than 4 million jobs that the economy has added in the past 2 1/2 years.
A
weak employment report could push the Federal Reserve to announce some
new action after its meeting next week to try to boost growth.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
