The National Association for Business Economics’ Outlook Survey for September found its members expect the economy to grow at a faster pace than they did three months ago. However, they predict a slowing — but still robust — pace of improvement in the labor market. The upgraded forecast for 2015 is due to stronger economic growth in the first half of the year than was previously expected.

“Following a strong second quarter, NABE’s October Outlook Survey panelists have raised their forecasts for economic growth in 2015,” said NABE President-Elect Lisa Emsbo-Mattingly, Fidelity Investments’ director of research, global asset allocation.

The panel of 50 professional forecasters’ median forecast for real GDP growth from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the fourth quarter of 2015 is 2.5%, a slight increase from the forecast of 2.3% reported in the June survey; the forecasted annualized growth rate for 2015 also edged up to 2.5% in the October survey from 2.4% in June. However, the median forecast for 2016 edged down to 2.7% from 2.9% in the prior survey.

The upgraded forecast for 2015 is the result of stronger economic growth in the first half of the year than was previously expected. The median forecast for real GDP growth for the second half of 2015 is lower than in the June survey, with growth rates of 2.5% and 2.7% now expected in the third and fourth quarters respectively, compared to forecasted increases of 3.2% and 3.0% in the June survey.

The median forecast for monthly nonfarm payroll growth is now 212,000 in 2015, down from 217,000 in June’s survey. However, for 2016, the forecast expects monthly nonfarm payroll growth to increase to 211,000 from 207,000 in June’s survey. Payrolls expanded at a monthly pace of 260,000 in 2014.

The economists expect the unemployment rate to fall to 5.1% on average during the fourth quarter of 2015 and to 4.8% on average during the fourth quarter of 2016; this compares to expectations of 5.2% and 4.9% respectively in June’s outlook.

NABE is a professional association for business economists and others who use economics in the workplace. The survey was conducted from Sept. 16 to Sept. 23, 2015.