Is the US economy on track for a 'soft landing'? Friday's jobs report may offer clues

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Can the U.S. economy achieve a much-hyped “soft landing”

WASHINGTON — Can the U.S. economy achieve a much-hyped “soft landing”? Friday's jobs report for November will provide some signs of whether that elusive scenario is coming into view.

Many of the most recent economic figures have been encouraging. Companies are advertising fewer job openings, and Americans are switching jobs less often than they did a year ago, trends that typically slow wage growth and inflation pressures. Hiring is cooling, and price increases have moderated significantly.

All of which means the Federal Reserve may stand an increasingly good chance of bringing inflation down to its 2% annual target without causing a deep recession — the common definition of a soft landing.

Yet that effort isn't without risks. The economy could slow so much as to slide into a recession. The unemployment rate, which began the year at an ultra-low 3.4%, has since risen to 3.9% as more Americans have come off the sidelines to look for jobs and not found them right away. The number of people receiving unemployment aid, though still low, has risen. And for much of this year, hiring has been concentrated in just a few sectors — notably health care, restaurants and hotels and government — rather than broadly across the economy.

The November jobs report from the Labor Department is expected to show that employers added a still-solid 172,500 jobs last month, according to a survey of economists by FactSet. That would slightly exceed October's 150,000 gain.

Yet November's increase will be exaggerated by the addition of United Auto Workers members as well as by Hollywood actors whose strikes ended in October and who returned to work in November. Their return is expected to