November Jobs Data: Tomorrow's Headliners

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Jobs data will dominate Friday's session, with little set to draw investors' attention away from the monthly nonfarm payrolls report.

The Labor Department's jobs report, due Friday at 8:30 a.m. EST, should show that the U.S. economy lost 125,000 jobs in November, according to a Reuters poll of economists. The unemployment rate will likely face more scrutiny, after a jump to 10.2% in October. This time around, economists are looking for the rate to stay the same.

However, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Thursday that while he hasn't seen Friday's report, he said there are signs that the unemployment rate may "tick upward."

"From December 2007 through September 2009, the economy lost 7.3 million jobs. The recession has wiped out all the jobs created in the private sector over the last decade," wrote Peter Morici, professor at the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business and a former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission, in an email. "Unemployment claims continue to exceed 450,000 each week, indicating the bleeding will not end soon."

Elsewhere on the economic docket, the Census Bureau will release factory orders for October, with economists expecting a 0.2% rise after a 0.9% increase in September.

There is little in the way of earnings releases scheduled, with Big Lots(BIG) one of few companies set to report quarterly results.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in New York.

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