WASHINGTON — The job market has barely improved since January, making 2010 a lost year for the millions who are out of work.
The number of people applying for jobless benefits and the high unemployment rate have essentially been static in that time, the latest data show.
It’s a bleak picture for Democrats, who could lose control of Congress in three weeks.
Numerous polls show voters blame President Barack Obama and his party for the slow economic recovery and the 9.6 percent unemployment rate — not much better than the 9.7 percent rate when the year began.
A sluggish economy has made employers reluctant to hire. Most economists don’t expect much improvement until late next year. Some say conditions could worsen and that the jobless rate could drift back up to 10 percent next spring.
“I don’t expect to see really strong employment growth . . . until the second half of next year,” said Gus Faucher, an economist at Moody’s Analytics.
The most recent blow came Thursday, when the Labor Department said first-time applications for unemployment benefits rose by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 462,000 — the first increase in three weeks.
Jobless claims had been drifting downward since mid-August, when they hit a high for the year of 504,000.
A jump in imports widened the trade deficit in August by 8.8 percent to $46.3 billion, the Commerce Department said. The gap was driven by demand for foreign-made semiconductors, generators and other types of industrial machinery. Exports edged up 0.2 percent.
Wholesale prices remained tame, outside of a spike in the cost of food and energy, the Labor Department said in a separate report.
Businesses are reluctant to raise the prices they charge retailers because demand for goods is low and unemployment is expected to stay high for some time.
