Slump in US private sector job growth in May
US employers added far fewer new jobs to payrolls in May than expected, a closely-watched dataset has shown.
US private-sector payroll growth fell to the lowest level in eight months as employers added a scant 38,000 jobs last month, the ADP Employer Services report showed.
April private payrolls were also revised down to an increase of 177,000 from the previously reported 179,000.
Following April’s growth, economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast a gain of 175,000 jobs for May.
The ADP report comes out ahead of government monthly non-farm public and private sector payroll data on Friday and has stoked fears that the official data will also be weaker than expected.
“We’ve seen general softening in US data, and that’s a concern about how the recovery is maintaining itself. Markets are starting to turn their attention to this,” said Camilla Sutton, senior currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto.
The government payroll report is expected to show a rise in overall non-farm payrolls of 180,000 in May, slowing down from a gain of 244,000 the month before. Private payrolls are expected to come in at 205,000.
The ADP report is jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers.