The ADP National Employment Report shows the U.S. private sector created 178,000 jobs in July, beating the median forecast. There was also a sharp 33,000 upward revision to June, which is now at 191,000.
“Job gains continued to be strong in the month of July,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “However, as the labor market tightens employers may find it more difficult to recruit qualified workers.”
Manufacturing, which had been bouncing back, had a down month in July, losing 4,000 jobs. Constructions, which had been down last month, returned to positive growth, at 6,000. Natural Resources & Mining added 3,000.
“The American job machine continues to operate in high gear,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics said. “Job gains are broad-based across industries and company sizes, with only manufacturers reducing their payrolls. At this pace of job growth, unemployment will continue to quickly decline.”
The service-providing sector added 174,000, with the largest number of jobs (24,000) being created in Trade/Transportation/Utilities.
Small businesses (1-49 employees) created 50,000 jobs, mid-size (50-499) created 83,000 and large (500+) created 45,000 jobs.