Unemployment in the United States has improved over the past year, but remains higher than usual and a major political issue ahead of next November’s presidential election.

Economists surveyed by the Bloomberg financial news service predict the U.S. unemployment rate for December will be slightly worse than the prior month at 8.7 percent. If that prediction turns out to be true when the official data are published next Friday, it will mean that the jobless rate is seven-tenths of a percentage point lower than it was at the end of 2010.

The economists also expect the U.S. will show a net gain of 150,000 jobs in December, mostly in the private sector.

While the economy has gained nearly 1.5 million jobs in the first 11 months of 2011, that has not made up for the millions of jobs lost in the recession.

Around 25 million Americans remain either jobless or unable to find full-time work.