The number of jobs in the private sector in the United States rose by 99,000 in August, it was shown in the ADP National Employment Report published on Thursday. The figure came in well below analyst expectations and down from July's revised number of 111,000, with this being the fifth straight month of cooling.
Large and medium companies added 42,000 and 68,000 jobs respectively. Meanwhile, jobs in small businesses declined by 9,000. The service-providing sector gained 72,000 jobs, the majority of which came from education/health services. The number of jobs in the goods-producing sector was up by 27,000, led by growth in construction employment.
"The job market's downward drift brought us to slower-than-normal hiring after two years of outsized growth. The next indicator to watch is wage growth, which is stabilizing after a dramatic post-pandemic slowdown," ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson commented.