Economic research firm IHS Global Insight forecasts that Friday's upcoming job report will show that employers added just 75,000 jobs in October. If accurate, that's not enough to keep pace with the number of new entrants into the work a day world, much less bail the nation out of its economic doldrums.
Economists say the nation needs to create about 300,000 jobs each month in order for the country to return to pre-recession employment levels. So 75,000 jobs just won't cut it.
Currently 14 million Americans are unemployed. Another 12 million are estimated to be too discouraged to look for work or are underemployed, meaning that they are working part time jobs because they can't find full time work.
In their report, IHS economists said they expect October's unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 9.1 percent.
They expect that private employers created 100,000 jobs during the month, but predicted that the government shed 25,000 jobs in October. That net 75,000 job creation figure compares with 103,000 job gains in September.
September's bump is largely due to the end of a strike at Verizon, which restored 45,000 workers to the ranks of the employed.
