The Associated Press brings good news for the economy. Christopher Rugaber writes that companies are laying off fewer workers and advertising more job openings.

The unemployment rate is now at 9.6 percent and it seems as if employers aren’t ramping up hiring fast enough to reduce the rate.

The Labor Department said today that fewer people applied for unemployment benefits for the fourth time in five weeks.

A second report from the Labor Department showed job openings rose in August for the second straight month. Private-sector employers advertised the most number of available jobs since November 2008.

Unfortunately, the increases aren’t enough to turn the job marketing 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. However, that isn’t enough to keep up with population growth, much less help the nearly 15 million unemployed.

At the end of last week, economists forecast the government will report that private employers added a net total of 75,000 jobs in September, about the same as 67,000 added in August.

With job creation so weak, the Federal Reserve is likely to take additional steps to boost the economy. The most widely expected move, which the Fed could launch at its meeting next month, would be to buy government debt in an effort to push interest rates down further.

That, in turn, could spur more borrowing by businesses and consumers.

As of now, the Federal Reserve is trying to figure out any best way to lift the economy. We won’t be in this downward spiral forever; it just takes time to climb back out.

So, be patient if you are one of the 15 million unemployed. Things will turn around and you will be back on the path to prosperity.

 

 -Orly