Private Employment Slips for First Time in Seven Months

Sept. 1, 2010
Manufacturing lost 6,000 jobs

Signaling a weakening economic recovery, U.S. private sector employment dropped in August payrolls firm ADP said on Sept. 1. Some 10,000 private-sector jobs were lost last month following a revised July increase of 37,000 jobs.

Most economists had expected 13,000 jobs to be created.

ADP said that in August, employment in the service-providing sector rose by 30,000, the seventh consecutive monthly gain, but the increase was not enough to offset a decline in the goods-producing sector of 40,000.

Employment in the manufacturing sector decreased 6,000, the second consecutive monthly decline.

Large businesses, defined as those with 500 or more workers, saw employment remain essentially flat while employment among medium-size businesses decreased by 5,000 and among small-size businesses slipped by 6,000.

Construction employment also dropped, by 33,000, while that in the financial services sector fell by 5,000.

"The decline in private employment in August confirms a pause in the recovery already evident in other economic data," ADP said. "The deceleration in employment was evident in the major sectors and by size of business."

August's employment decline followed six increases from February through July.

In addition, over those six months, the average monthly gain in employment was 37,000 with no evidence of acceleration, ADP said.

The weak data came ahead of the government's release of the monthly employment data on Sept. 3, with most analysts forecasting non-farm payrolls to fall by 118,000 in August and unemployment to edge up to 9.6% from the current 9.5% rate.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

7 Crucial Steps to Improve Your OT Security

Oct. 23, 2023
Enhance OT security in manufacturing and production. Uncover the crucial steps to safeguard your operational technology. Protect against evolving threats and bridge the IT-OT ...

Goodridge Boosts Productivity & Saves Costs by Moving to the Cloud!

Dec. 4, 2023
With Infor's cloud solutions, Goodridge has been able to greatly increase overall productivity, cost savings, data visibility, and automation. This case study discusses the many...

Gain a competitive edge with real-world lessons on private 5G networks

Nov. 16, 2023
The use of private networks in manufacturing applications is rapidly growing. In this paper, we present valuable insights and lessons learned from the field with the goal of enhancing...

Why DataOps may be the key to unlocking the full potential of digital transformation

Nov. 3, 2023
Read the 2023 market survey conducted by IndustryWeek

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!