Washington ? Some economists think the nation will break a 23-month streak of job cuts and add to employment when the government issues the December labor report today.

A majority of economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters still think the economy shed jobs in December — a modest loss of 8,000. The unemployment rate is expected to rise to 10.1 percent from 10 percent.

Even a slight gain in jobs, should it happen, won’t be enough to lower the unemployment rate anytime soon. Nor would it restore many of the estimated 8 million jobs lost during the recession.