Growth outlooks trimmed

Economists surveyed by the National Association of Business Economics now expect GDP to rise by 2.6 percent this year, compared with a forecast of 3.2 percent in May. Next year will see 2.6 percent as well, the economists say. Those numbers, while sluggish, are somewhat better than the dire expectations by other analysts. From the WSJ:

The forecasters predict a slow recovery in hiring, with payroll gains to rise an average 150,000 or less into the latter half of 2011, before moving up into the 170,000 to 175,000 range. The jobless rate -- it was at 9.6% in September -- is seen hanging around 9.5% through the middle of the next year before moving down to a still terrible 9.2% by the close of the coming year.