Jobs Report Preview

On Friday morning, the Labor Department will release its first estimate for the number of jobs created in the United States in August, and right now expectations are low.

CATHERINE RAMPELL

Dollars to doughnuts.

Wall Street analysts have a median forecast of just a 60,000 net gain in nonfarm payroll jobs, about half of the gain from July. The unemployment rate — which comes from a different survey, and reflects the share of people who want work and are actively looking for it but can’t find a job — is expected to remain 9.1 percent.

Dollars to doughnuts.

To put this in perspective, the United States generally needs to add about 150,000 jobs each month just to keep up with the growth in the working-age population.

These are among the factors that economists are citing for their weak forecasts:

Even if the numbers come in just as expected, economists will be scouring the report for any signs of what lies ahead.

Here are some details to keep an eye on: