By Noreen Burke
Investing.com -- The U.S. private sector added 167,000 jobs in July, according to a report by payrolls processor ADP, slowing sharply from the prior month as the resurgence in Covid-19 cases halted the reopening of businesses in a number of states.
Analysts polled by Investing.com had expected the private sector to have added 1.5 million jobs last month.
“The labor market recovery slowed in the month of July,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “We have seen the slowdown impact businesses across all sizes and sectors.”
June’s figure was revised to show job gains of 4.314 million from the gain of 2.369 million that was initially reported.
The ADP numbers come ahead of the Labor Department's weekly report on initial jobless claims on Thursday and its nonfarm payrolls report for July on Friday.
Last week’s initial jobless claims figures showed a second straight weekly increase in initial applications, together with the biggest increase in continuing claims since May, which could foreshadow a negative nonfarm payrolls number for August.
“Both initial and continuing unemployment claims have picked up in recent weeks, which could show up as a decline in employment during August if the trend persists,” said Diane Swonk, Chief Economist at Grant Thornton.
Friday’s data is expected to show that 1.65 million jobs were added last month, slowing from 4.8 million in June. The report covers the period through mid-July, before containment measures were reintroduced in some states in the second half of the month.