The employment
report issued by Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and Moody's Analytics revealed
that U.S. private employers added 99,000 jobs in August. This was the lowest
number since January 2021 (+9,000).
Economists had forecast
an addition of 145,000 new jobs for August.
Meanwhile, the July
figure saw a downward
revision to 111,000 from the originally reported 122,000.
According to
the report, the August job gain was supported by education and health services
(+29,000), construction (+27,000), other services (+20,000), financial
activities (+18,000), trade, transportation and utilities (+14,000), leisure
and hospitality (+11,000), and natural resources and mining (+8,000). At the
same time, professional and business services (-16,000), manufacturing (-8,000)
and information (-4,000) shed jobs last month.
The report also
showed that annual pay increases were flat in August, remaining at 4.8 per cent
y-o-y for job-stayers and 7.3 per cent y-o-y for job-changers.
Commenting on
the latest report, Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, noted that the job
market's downward drift led 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,” she added.