The private sector in the United States added 163,000 jobs in July, as employment growth ticked down from the prior month, according to data released Wednesday.
Small businesses and the service-providing sector led the rise in July, according to a report from payrolls-processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. In June, private employment rose a revised 172,000, compared with a prior estimate of 176,000.
Economists had expected a July increase of 120,000 private-sector jobs.
Despite ticking down in July, private hiring has strengthened since spring.
Markets look to ADP’s report on private-sector payrolls to provide some guidance on the U.S. Labor Department’s jobs estimate, which will be released Friday and includes information on both private- and public-sector payrolls.
Economists polled by MarketWatch expect the U.S. Labor Department to report Friday that nonfarm-payroll employment rose 100,000 in July, compared with 80,000 in June. They also expect that the unemployment rate remained at 8.2%.
According to ADP, private employment in July rose 73,000 at small businesses, 67,000 at medium businesses and 23,000 at large businesses. The service-providing sector added 148,000 jobs, while the goods-producing sector gained 15,000 jobs.
Wednesday’s report on private jobs comes ahead of an afternoon policy announcement from the Federal Reserve. The Fed, which is dealing with a still struggling economy, is expected to keep rates low for longer.
