If the debt deal passes on Monday in time to avert a federal default, all eyes will turn to the July jobs report coming Friday from the Labor Department. The last report, as you remember, was dismal: employers added just 18,000 net nonfarm payroll jobs in June.
Signals are not looking good. A key survey of manufacturers showed that employment in July grew at a slower rate than in June. And the Conference Board, a business group, released a survey showing that vacancies advertised in Internet job listings fell by 217,000 in July, leaving 3.22 job seekers per opening. Another way of putting that: there are 9.7 million more people out of work than there are advertised openings.
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