ADP: U.S. added 99,000 private jobs in August, smallest growth since 2021

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy created 99,000 private non-farm jobs in August, the weakest jobs growth since the pandemic era while significantly missing what Wall Street economists expected, according to the new ADP Employment report released on Thursday.

ADP said the new total was off 2,000 from the downwardly revised total of 111,000 in July. Dow Jones experts predicted that the economy created 140,000 private jobs last month, according to CNBC .

This was the smallest monthly jobs growth number reported by ADP since January 2021, coming at a time when the Federal Reserve appears to be on the verge of decreasing interest rates for the first time in more than a year. The Labor Department will release the government's job report on Friday.

"The job market's downward drift brought us to slower-than-normal hiring after two years of outsized growth," ADP's chief economist Nela Richardson said in a statement. "The next indicator to watch is wage growth, which is stabilizing after a dramatic post-pandemic slowdown."

The education/health services sector gained 29,000 while the construction sector added 27,000, providing the bulk of the private jobs growth in August, according to ADP. On the flipside, the professional services sector lost 16,000 jobs last month and manufacturing another 8,000.

Small businesses, companies with fewer than 50 employees, lost 9,000 jobs in August. Medium size businesses, which employ 50 to 499, created 68,000 jobs while large companies with 500 or more employees, provided 42,000 posts.

ADP said those changing jobs saw their paychecks increase by 7.3% annually while those saying saw a 4.8% bump, roughly the same percentage from July.