Just 54,000 jobs added in August: ADP

Private employers added just 54,000 jobs in August, indicating a slowdown in the hiring market, according to ADP data released Thursday morning. 

ADP’s jobs figure is lower than the forecast made by The Wall Street Journal, which predicted 75,000 positions added last month. 

“The year started with strong job growth, but that momentum has been whipsawed by uncertainty. A variety of things could explain the hiring slowdown, including labor shortages, skittish consumers, and AI disruptions,” ADP’s chief economist, Nela Richardson, said in a statement. 

ADP’s monthly report showed leisure and hospitality as well as construction performing well despite a wider slowdown in hiring in recent months.

Leisure and hospitality contributed the most by adding 50,000 jobs. Construction was in second place with 16,000. But other sectors, such as trade, transportation and utilities, lowered the overall figure by losing 17,000 positions, according to ADP. Education and health services saw a decline of 12,000 jobs.

Pay gains were nearly unchanged in August. Those who stayed in their job saw their wages go up by 4.4 percent year-over-year. Those who changed jobs saw their salary increase by 7.1 percent during the same stretch, according to ADP. 

The ADP report was released on the same day the Labor Department reported applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending Aug. 30 rose by 8,000 to 237,000. Economists had been expecting 231,000 new applications.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to deliver its first jobs report since President Trump terminated the agency’s head after a weak employment report for July. That report showed the U.S. added only 73,000 jobs in July. 

Updated at 9:24 a.m. EDT