US Private Employment Growth Slows Again in August

Private businesses in the US added 38K jobs in August 2026, the least since January, following an upwardly revised 46K in July and below forecasts of 47K, reflecting a broader slowdown in the labor market. Education and health care (45K), construction (12K), leisure and hospitality (16K) and financial activities (6K) showed solid hiring. In contrast, manufacturing (-17K), professional services (-16K), trade, transportation and utilities (-5K), natural resources and mining (-5K) and information (-4K) shed jobs. Large companies added 34K jobs while those with fewer than 50 employees added 3K. Meanwhile, pay gains held steady. "Pay can tell us a lot about today's choppy hiring. To understand hiring patterns, you have to look deeply into where pay growth is accelerating, where it's slowing, and for whom. Once-predictable wage growth has been overtaken by the complexities of demographic change, persistent inflation, and AI's effects on jobs", according to Dr. Nela Richardson, ADP

Private businesses in the US added 44K jobs in July 2026, the least in six months, following a downwardly revised 95K gain in June and below forecasts of 70K. The services sector added 47K jobs, led by education and health services (36K), financial activities (10K), professional and business (9K) and information (5K) while job losses occurred in trade, transportation, and utilities (-8K) and leisure and hospitality (-11K). Meanwhile, the goods-producing sector shed 3K jobs, amid a fall in natural resources and mining (-6K) which offset gains in manufacturing (2K) and construction (1K). Year-over-year, pay gains held steady at 4.4% for those staying in their jobs but job switchers saw a 7% increase, the largest since August 2025. "Job-changers are highly sensitive to real-time economic conditions, and their rapid pay growth implies supply constraints in parts of the labor market", according to Dr. Nela Richardson Chief Economist, ADP.

Private businesses in the US added 98K jobs in June 2026, below 122K in May and forecasts of 113K. Education and health services (48K) added the most jobs, followed by trade, transportation and utilities (15K), financial activities (14K) and information (7K) while leisure and hospitality delivered a sixth month of weak hiring (2K). Small job gains also occurred in professional and business services (2K), construction (2K) and manufacturing (5K) while the natural resources and mining shed 5K jobs. Small companies added 53K jobs, mid-sized 29K and large companies 25K. "The pace of hiring is telling a story of both supply and demand. We know it's taking people longer to find work, but there also are signs of labor supply constraints in certain industries. For now, the overall effect is a slowdown in job creation", Dr. Nela Richardson Chief Economist, ADP said. Meanwhile, annual pay gains for those staying in their jobs held steady at 4.4% while edging higher to 6.6% for job switchers.