A flurry of economic reports Wednesday show the U.S. job market improving.
A report from ADP, a business that processes paychecks for 24 million U.S. workers, says private employers boosted employment by 32,000 in April.
A different business group, the Institute for Supply Management, shows the largest sector of the U.S. economy, the services sector, grew for the fourth month in a row in March. The services sector includes a huge variety of businesses from health care, to retailing, to financial services, so those areas could see additional hiring.
The U.S. Treasury's chief economist Alan Krueger says he expects to see "sustained" improvement in the U.S. job market as the economy recovers.
But Krueger also told a congressional committee that the United States had meager employment growth even before the recent recession, and was lagging behind other developed nations in this crucial area.
The U.S. unemployment rate is expected to drop by one-tenth of a percent to hit 9.6 percent when government experts publish the official jobless rate on Friday.
Economists surveyed by news agencies also predict the report will show that the economy had a net gain of 200,000 jobs in April.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.