Private sector employment grew by 324,000 jobs in July, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report. Annual pay for job-stayers was up 6.2% year-over-year, while pay for job-changers was up 10.2%.
“The economy is doing better than expected and a healthy labor market continues to support household spending,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “We continue to see a slowdown in pay growth without broad-based job loss.”
Service industries added 303,000 jobs, with two-thirds of those (+201,000) in leisure/hospitality. The information sector added 36,000 jobs, and transportation/trade/utilities added 30,000. Financial activities (-5,000) was the only service sector to post job losses.
Goods-producing industries added 21,000 jobs. This was largely driven by natural resources/mining (+48,000), while construction gained 9,000 jobs. These results were tempered by manufacturing shedding 36,000 jobs during the month.
There were large regional differences. The northeast added the most jobs (+276,000), followed by the midwest (+129,000) and then the west (+55,000). On the other hand, the south (and every subregion within it) lost jobs (-144,000).
By business size, small companies (1-49 employees) accounted for the majority of the job growth (+237,000). Medium-sized companies (50-499 employees) added 138,000 jobs, while large companies subtracted 67,000 jobs.
