Millions of Americans have been out of work for six months or more - but it doesn't appear that hiring will accelerate sharply in the near future.
There are reasons for optimism. A survey of executives conducted this month by consultancy McKinsey found that 38 percent of companies plan to expand their payrolls by the end of the year - the highest proportion since the fall 2008 financial crisis. And McKinsey says small and large companies were equally willing to hire.
More good news comes from a September Duke University-CFO magazine poll of 937 chief financial officers. The U.S. respondents said they expected full-time employment to rise by 0.7 percent in the next year.
Yet neither survey found that executives were particularly bullish on the economy. Fifty-five percent of the McKinsey survey's 2,056 respondents said conditions would improve within the next six months - but a year ago, 61 percent had expected economic improvement. The Duke-CFO poll also showed a trend of declining optimism: In the U.S., CFO optimism fell to 49 on a 100-point scale, from 58 in the prior quarter.
A jobs recovery may be taking place - but it looks like that recovery will be gradual.
