Businesses in the United States expanded their payrolls by just 167,000 in July, according to a report from payroll processor ADP.
Economists had forecast around 1.9 million, with a range between 750,000 and 3.3 million, according to Econoday. In a sign of the extreme levels of uncertainty around jobs numbers in the pandemic era, economists surveyed by Dow Jones forecast a 1 million jobs gain.
The economic disruption from the coronavirus has made it far more difficult to measure or predict changes in the U.S. labor market. ADP’s recent numbers have been off by millions when compared with the Labor Department’s monthly report on the employment situation. In June, for example, ADP saw private payrolls expanding by 2.369 million a few days before the official report said payrolls expanded by 4.8 million, almost all of which was private sector employment.
“The labor market recovery slowed in the month of July,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “We have seen the slowdown impact businesses across all sizes and sectors.” – READ MORE
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