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Private sector employment was up +89,000 jobs last month, according to ADP’s September National Employment Report. That’s down from a revised +180,000 in August and represents the slowest pace of growth since January 2021. Annual pay is up 5.9% year over year, which is unchanged from last month.

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

Most (+81,000) of the new jobs were in the service-producing industries, led by leisure and hospitality (+92,000). Professional/business services saw the biggest decline at -32,000. In the goods-producing industries, construction added +16,000, which was largely offset by the loss of -12,000 jobs in manufacturing.

Regionally, the most jobs were added in the West (+66,000 jobs) and Northeast (+34,000), while the South saw losses of -16,000 jobs. And employment at small (+95,000) and medium-sized (+72,000) organizations grew, while at large ones it declined (-83,000).