A Weak Jobs Report Expected Today [AUDIO]

Another weak jobs report is expected today, which could fuel concerns that the economy is slumping for yet another spring.

Federal spending cuts, the payroll tax hike and the health care law are being blamed.

"It's a mixed bag economy and many indicators are showing month to month fluctuations with no accelerations except in the housing sector. But, many of them are showing incremental improvements," said Pat O'Keefe, Director of Economic Research at Cohn Resnick.

"There's no need to worry, but there's certainly no basis for any degree of optimism or satisfaction," said O'Keefe. "What we need to see that we aren't seeing at this point in the recovery is an acceleration in hiring and the number of jobs which would begin to make inroads in the still elevated levels of unemployment that the nation has experienced and the state of New Jersey has experienced over the past couple of years."

While jobless claims are at their lowest level, which is promising, we still need to see employers start adding jobs.

"A low level of jobless claims tells us that employers are not laying off or cutting back on the number of employees they currently have and that is encouraging," said O'Keefe. "That is a solid foundation for a future recovery, but when is it that employers will gain the confidence in this economic expansion to begin hiring more workers than what they currently need in anticipation of future increases in demand?"

"The decision to hire on the part of an employer is a commitment, not only for next week's paycheck, but a commitment to keep that individual on for some extended period of time," said O'Keefe. "And hence the hesitation on the part of employers, not because they're worried about a downturn, but because they aren't confident in the pace of the expansion going forward."