American companies added fewer jobs than expected last month, according to the latest ADP private payrolls report, dragged down by the struggling energy and non-vehicle manufacturing industries.
ADP said Wednesday U.S. private employers hired 185,000 workers in July—below the 215,000 analysts had expected and lower than the downwardly-revised additions of 229,000 for June.
In a couple bright spots, the services sector added the lion's share of positions in July, while large businesses overall reported their best month of hiring since December, adding 64,000 positions.
The ADP report came ahead of Friday's government employment report for July. Economists expect a gain of 223,000 non-farm payrolls and the jobless rate holding steady at 5.3% according to Reuters.
Investors are paying careful attention to the labour market and other key numbers for clues on whether the Federal Reserve will deem the economy strong enough to hike interest rates for the first time since 2006 at its September meeting.
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