Private U.S. employers added 163,000 workers in August, fewer than economists expected, and a potentially discouraging signal for the government’s monthly labor report due Friday.
The data, from payroll services firm ADP, missed an average estimate of 190,000 by 14 percent, though the growth is still faster than the Federal Reserve believes necessary to maintain stable economic expansion. The numbers, along with a slew of corporate earnings reports from the spring, indicate President Trump’s trade disputes have yet to dampen the enthusiasm of hiring managers.
Mid-size firms, with 50 to 499 employees, posted the largest gains, hiring 111,000 workers, according to ADP, which based its report on analysis of U.S. clients employing nearly 24 million people.
“Although we saw a small slowdown in job growth, the market remains incredibly dynamic,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Midsized businesses continue to be the engine of growth, adding nearly 70 percent of all jobs this month.”
In the production industry, manufacturers topped the rankings, with 19,000 jobs, while professional and business positions led the services sector, ADP said.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted slight declines after Thursday’s numbers, which investors typically view as an indicator of performance in the Labor Department’s broader numbers released a day later.
Economists have projected growth of 189,000 positions in that assessment, the average of estimates collected by FactSet, with hourly wages climbing as much as 2.8 percent from the previous year.
“The August jobs report should be a solid one,” said Bank of America economist Michelle Meyer said, who predicted gains of 205,000 with a steady unemployment rate of 3.8 percent.
