WASHINGTON -- U.S. businesses added 154,000 jobs in September, the slowest pace of hiring since April, a private survey found.
Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that manufacturers cut jobs for the eighth-straight month, and professional and business services, which includes high-paying jobs such as accountants and engineers, added the fewest jobs in five months.
The modest job gain adds to other recent evidence that hiring is slowing after several years of strong increases. Businesses added 175,000 jobs in August, ADP's report said, and 196,000 in July.
Recent economic data have painted a mixed picture of the economy. Consumer spending slipped in August to its lowest level since March, yet consumer confidence has jumped to a nine-year high.
U.S. manufacturing expanded in September, after contracting in August, according to a survey by the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group. New orders and production jumped, but that survey also found that manufacturers are still cutting jobs.
The ADP data cover only private businesses and often diverge from the official figures. Economists forecast that the government's jobs report, to be released Friday, will show a gain of 175,000 jobs, according to data provider FactSet. The unemployment rate is expected to remain 4.9 percent.
The government's figures show that employers added an average of 229,000 jobs a month last year. Through the first eight months of this year, that has slowed to an average of 182,000. Still, gains at that pace are enough to lower the unemployment rate over time.
Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics, which helps compile the ADP figures, said the slowdown has occurred mostly because the unemployment rate is low and employers have fewer people out of work to choose from.
Zandi expects the monthly gains will continue to slow, however, until they match the growth of the adult population, which is about 85,000 a month.
U.S. services companies grew last month at the fastest pace in nearly a year, potential good news for the U.S. economy.
The Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday that its services index jumped to 57.1 in September, the highest point since October, from August's 51.4, the lowest since 2010. It was the biggest monthly gain since the index was introduced in 2008. Any reading above 50 signals growth.
New orders, production and export orders all grew faster last month, and hiring by services companies was the strongest since October.
"August's drop was a fluke," Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a research note. He noted that the August reading might have been warped by flooding in Louisiana and Mississippi.
The institute is a trade group of purchasing managers. Its services survey covers businesses that employ the vast majority of workers, including retail, health care and financial companies.
Orders to U.S. factories edged higher in August, with a key category that tracks business investment plan rising for a third straight month.
Factory orders increased 0.2 percent in August after a much larger 1.4 percent gain in July, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. However, the overall figure was heavily influenced by a swing in the volatile commercial aircraft category, which had jumped 72.9 percent in July but declined 22.7 percent in August.
A core category, which serves as a proxy for business investment, was up 0.9 percent in August. It was the third straight monthly increase. Analysts are hoping the string of gains in the investment category could be a signal that businesses are beginning to spend again to expand and modernize their facilities.
Orders for durable goods, items intended to last at least three years like cars and home appliances, edged up 0.1 percent in August. Demand for nondurable goods, a category that covers such items as chemicals and paper, rose 0.2 percent in August after a 0.8 percent decline in July.
Information for this article was contributed by Christopher S. Rugaber and Martin Crutsinger of The Associated Press and Michelle Jamrisko of Bloomberg News.
Business on 10/06/2016