Investing.com - U.S. private employers added 163,000 jobs in August, below economists' expectations, a report by a payrolls processor ADP showed on Thursday.
Economists had expected the ADP nonfarm payrolls report to show a gain of 188,000 jobs.
Private sector jobs increased by 219,000 in the previous month.
“Although we saw a small slowdown in job growth the market remains incredibly dynamic,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and 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, and remain resilient in the current economic climate.”
Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “The job market is hot. Employers are aggressively competing to hold onto their existing workers and to find new ones. Small businesses are struggling the most in this competition, as they increasingly can’t fill open positions.”
The ADP figures come ahead of the Labor Department's more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which includes both public and private-sector employment.