U.S. jobless rate headed for 9 percent in 2010: M.Advisers

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. jobless rate is likely to push well above 8 percent by mid-2010 and may even top 9 percent, Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, said on Wednesday.

Prakken, whose firm jointly developed the ADP Employer Services report on private sector jobs, said the unemployment rate would top 10 percent without the government's economic stimulus plan.

Prakken also told a teleconference of journalists that he expected the U.S. economy to lose 3 million jobs this year even with the stimulus plan in place. He also expected the economy's contraction in the first quarter to be similar to the drop in gross domestic product seen in the fourth quarter.

(Reporting by Burton Frierson, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)