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Private sector jobs grow at slowest pace since January 2021

October 04, 2023

Employment in the US private sector rose by 89,000 jobs in September, a dip from the revised increase of 180,000 in August, according to the ADP National Employment Report released on Wednesday. This marked the slowest pace of growth since January 2021.

The slowdown was driven by large companies, where jobs fell by 83,000 in September. Small and midsize firms added 95,000 jobs and 72,000 jobs, respectively.

“We are seeing a steepening decline in jobs this month,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in a press release. “Additionally, we are seeing a steady decline in wages in the past 12 months.”

Here are the estimates of employment growth by industry:

  • Goods-producing, up 8,000
    • Natural resources/mining, up 4,000
    • Construction, up 16,000
    • Manufacturing, down 12,000
  • Service-providing, up 81,000
    • Trade/transportation/utilities, down 13,000
    • Information, up 1,000
    • Financial activities, up 17,000
    • Professional/business services, down 32,000
    • Education/health services, up 10,000
    • Leisure/hospitality, up 92,000
    • Other services, up 6,000

The median change in annual pay for those changing jobs was 9%, down from 9.7% recorded in August, according to ADP. For those staying in their jobs, the median change in annual pay was 5.9%, the slowest growth in 12 months.

The ADP National Employment Report, produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, uses ADP’s anonymized and aggregated payroll data of more than 25 million US employees to provide a representative picture of the labor market. The report details the current month’s total private employment change and weekly job data from the previous month.