Private sector hiring slowed in August, off by 11 percent from July’s revised 198,000 new jobs, but still ahead of the 166,000 average of the last 12 months.
The report from ADP said the biggest sector gain came in professional and business services, which added 50,000 jobs. That sector includes the staffing industry. ADP, and its partner in the monthly National Employment Report, Moody’s Analytics, don’t break down the job counts into more granular sectors. A government jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which will be released tomorrow, will show more detail, including temp jobs.
The American Staffing Association reported this week that temp and contract jobs increased in August by 4.4% over the same month last year. Since January, temp jobs have grown 11.4%, the ASA notes. ASA’s Staffing Index now stands at 97.
ADP’s payroll based count of August’s hiring by private companies came in at 176,000, below the average of what economists were expecting. A Bloomberg survey predicted the report would come in at 184,000 new jobs. A Reuters survey put the number at 180,000.
ADP’s report, compiled by Moody’s Analytics, said the service sector accounted for all but 11,000 of the new jobs in August. According to the report, the industry gainers were:
- Construction 4,000
- Manufacturing 5,000
- Trade/transportation/utilities 40,000
- Financial activities 1,000
- Professional/business services 50,000
Hiring in the highly seasonal construction industry was off significantly from June (+18,000) and July (+21,000). Manufacturing, though, was a significant improvement from July’s 3,000 job loss.
SHRM’s LINE report predicted that hiring in the manufacturing sector would be strong in August, and that service-sector hiring would continue largely as it has. For September, SHRM’s Leading Indicators of National Employment report predicts manufacturing hiring will be off slightly from a year ago, while service sector will be up significantly over last year.
Compared to the prior month, September’s hiring will look a lot like August, though a little softer in manufacturing.
That’s consistent with what economists are saying.
“It is steady as she goes in the job market,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “Job gains in August were consistent with increases experienced over the past two-plus years. There is little evidence that fiscal austerity and Health Care Reform have had a significant impact on the job market.”
Tomorrow, the government issues its monthly jobs and employment report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the data, includes both the private sector and government. It uses surveys to estimate both the nation’s total jobs, and unemployment rates and other related statistics.
Surveys by the business media show that the average estimates of economists are that the government will report about 180,000 total new jobs in August and no change in the nation’s 7.4% unemployment rate.