Published: Wednesday, 5 Aug 2009 | 3:00 PM ET

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The United States is on track for a modest job recovery in early 2010 in line with its economy emerging from the worst recession in decades, said ADP Employer Services and Macroeconomic Advisers LLC Wednesday.

U.S. growth will likely return in the second half of this year, although companies were still shedding jobs in July, Chris Varvares, president of Macroeconomic Advisers, said on a teleconference call.

"Job losses continue to be broad-based," Varvares said, adding that the labor market is on track for "sub-par" gains in the first quarter of next year.

The remarks came after the firm's monthly gauge of private sector employment, which showed U.S. private employers shed 371,000 jobs in July, compared with a revised 463,000 drop in June. Economists had expected 345,000 job losses in July.

But separately, another  survey showed firms increased planned layoffs suggesting the labor market remains troubled even as the pace of job losses slowed.

Separately, global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. said planned layoffs at U.S. firms increased in July for the first time in six months to 97,373, up 31 percent from June when it had hit a 15-month low. (To hear more analysis from John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, click here.)

The data left markets anxious that Friday's more comprehensive nonfarm payrolls report, which also includes public sector jobs, could show the employers shed more workers last month than economists had thought.

"(ADP), coupled with the Challenger report that showed an increase from June in the number of layoff announcements is getting people to think that (Friday's) number may be worse than previously expected," said Lou Brien, market strategist at DRW Trading Group in Chicago.

The median of forecasts from analysts polled by Reuters is for U.S. employers to have cut 320,000 private and public sector jobs in July, down from a loss of 467,000 jobs in June.

Wall Street stocks edged lower after the jobs report stoked caution about the economic recovery while the dollar dipped against the Japanese yen.

President Barack Obama was scheduled to speak in Indiana later on Wednesday about the state of the U.S. economy.

In a separate report, the Mortgage Bankers Association said demand for U.S. home loans rose last week as a three-week low in 30-year fixed mortgage rates boosted applications for refinancing.

That came a day after U.S. data showed pending home sales jumped 3.6 percent in June, adding to speculation that the troubled housing market at or nearing a bottom.

"Most folks are hopeful, based on all the numbers we've been seeing, that we've got a floor here and we're going to start seeing a long, slow recovery." said Jonathan Corr, chief strategy officer at Pleasanton, California-based mortgage software provider Ellie Mae.

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