US hiring may have risen last month in a sign of resilience

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers may have stepped up their hiring last month after a slowdown in August. But COVID-19′s fingerprints will likely still be found on the September jobs report being released Friday. Economists have forecast that employers added 488,000 jobs last month, according to data provider FactSet. That’s about half the gains in both June and July, when a sharp drop in new infections spurred more traveling, shopping and spending, but well above August’s sluggish growth of 235,000 jobs. The unemployment rate is expected to have dropped from 5.2% to 5.1%.