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

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%.

During August, the delta variant caused a sharp pullback in hiring among restaurants, bars, hotels and retail stores, when Americans were reluctant to visit restaurants, bars and shops. Those trends likely remained a factor in September but might have improved as confirmed COVID cases began declining in recent weeks.

A big question surrounding the September hiring report is whether employers managed to find enough people to fill a record-high number of open jobs. As the spread of vaccinations accelerated earlier this year and more Americans ventured out, companies were caught flat-footed as customer demand soared much faster than they expected. At the same time, many of their former employees had dropped out of the job market to care for children at home or because higher stock prices and home values allowed older workers to retire early.

The demand for workers remains intense: The employment website Indeed says the number of job postings, which was flat in August compared with July, rose again last month, particularly for warehouse jobs and positions in human resources.

Yet to an extent that has surprised economists, many people who lost or quit their jobs during the pandemic recession have yet to look for work again. People out of work...