Ahead of Friday morning's much-anticipated report about the nation's unemployment rate and how many jobs were (hopefully) added to payrolls in May, economists are expecting to hear:
— That the jobless rate was unchanged from April's 7.5 percent.
— That there were about 170,000 more jobs, a modest increase.
In other words, as NPR's Yuki Noguchi said on Morning Edition, it's likely to be a more-of-the-same kind of report.
Bloomberg News says U.S. stock futures are little changed as the 8:30 a.m. ET release of the employment news approaches — a sign that the markets are also thinking that the report will be yet another sign that job growth remains sluggish.
A month ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that 165,000 jobs were added to payrolls in April (a figure that could be revised in Friday's report).
We'll update with news from the May report once it's released.