WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The prevailing view among economists is that U.S. growth will accelerate over the next few months after a brief lull. That view will get tested this week with the April jobs report.

The monthly employment report due Friday headlines a busy week of economic data. Also on tap are reports on the U.S. manufacturing, construction and service sectors.

Clearly the first quarter was not a very good one, especially at this late stage of an economic recovery. Growth tapered off to 1.8% from 3.1% in the final three months of 2010. The weather was poor, defense spending fell, state governments pared back, soaring oil prices whacked consumers and the Japanese earthquake disrupted the flow of global supplies.

Yet economists believe that most factors contributing to the first-quarter slowdown are temporary. Oil prices are widely expected to taper off, for instance, and the effects from the Japanese disaster will recede.

Just as important, they say, are increasing signs that more companies are willing to hire. As more people join the labor force, it will lead to an increase in consumer spending that triggers further hiring.

Manufacturing has been the economy’s biggest star. Demand has soared, here and abroad, and companies have gone on a hiring binge to keep up. The sector has expanded 20 straight months, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s closely followed index.

The index for April, which will be published Monday morning, is forecast to decline to 59.5% from 61.2% in March. Still, the index hit a seven-year high just two months ago and any reading over 50% means more companies are expanding instead of contracting.

“If you are in the high 50s, historically that’s a very strong number,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief economist of MFR Inc.

The employment report on Friday, however, will provide a much broader look at the health of the economy. Other sectors besides manufacturing will have to add lots of new workers to put the economy into overdrive.

Most economists predict the U.S. will add just slightly under 200,000 jobs in April. The U.S. gained an average of 200,000 jobs in February and March, the best two-month performance in about five years.

While that’s good enough to absorb natural growth in the labor force, it’s far too little to drive down the nation’s 8.8% unemployment rate. Monthly job gains would have to total 300,000 or more over a sustained period to accomplish that task.

“We still have a lot of people out there unemployed who need jobs,” said economist Gus Faucher of Moody’s Analytics. “If we get 200,000, that’s fine, but we have to grow a lot faster than that.”

What could upset expectations for improved U.S. growth in the months ahead are continued high gas prices and a pause in hiring, hints of which have emerged lately. To take one example, the number of people who file applications to receive unemployment benefits hit a three-month high last week, stoking some concerns about Friday’s payrolls report.

If job gains fall below 150,000, economists say, the unease lingering over from the first-quarter weakness will only intensify.

A disappointing number would also cause more sparks to zing in Washington over which party is more at fault for the slow recovery — a political dispute in which most economists prefer not to get involved.