The private sector’s payrolls grew by just 99,000 in August, paycheck processor ADP said Thursday. That’s the smallest increase since 2021 and a signal that the labor market may be softening more than expected.
“The job market’s downward drift brought us to slower-than-normal hiring after two years of outsized growth,” Nela Richardson, chief economist of ADP, said in a statement.
Economists had forecast a gain of 140,000. The prior month’s estimate was revised down from 122,000 to 111,000.
While natural resources and construction continued to add jobs, manufacturing shed 8,000 workers, according to ADP.
On the services side of the economy, jobs were lost in the information sector and the business and professional services sector. Trade, transportation, and utilities added jobs, as did finance, education and health, and leisure and hospitality.