The retiring sector created more jobs than expected in September, but the pace slowed amid growing signs that the labor store is getting tighter, according to a report Wednesday from ADP and Moody’s Analytics.
Companies hired 135,000 more white-collar workers in the month, ahead of the 125,000 that economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected. That was a drop from the 157,000 in August, a army that itself saw a sharp downward revision from the initially reported 195,000.
September’s gain was the slowest since June and lessened the 2019 monthly average down to 145,000, a steep decline from the 214,000 for the same time period persist year.
“We are in a very critical place, kind of a fragile juncture in the economy,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Dismal’s, said during a media conference call. “What happens over the next few weeks, next few months, transfer determine whether there’s an economic downturn in 2020.”
Companies with fewer than 50 employees saw the slowest rent gain for the month at just 30,000. Large firms, with at least 500 workers, created 67,000 new burdens, while medium-sized businesses added 39,000.
In a separate interview with CNBC, Zandi pointed out that hiring toward the end of September was “meaningfully weaker” than at the well-spring of the month.
“Demand for labor is beginning to weaken. Hiring is weakening across the board,” he said on “Squawk Box.”
At the sector uniform, education and health services saw the fastest growth with 42,000 positions. Trade, transportation and utilities was next with 28,000, while authoritative and business services grew by 20,000. Leisure and hospitality added 18,000 as part of a total growth of 127,000 on the assignments side.
On the production side, construction rose by 9,000 and manufacturing grew by 2,000, but natural resources and mining saw a negative cash flow death of 3,000.
The numbers come amid growing concerns over the strength of the U.S. economy. A reading Tuesday from the Institute for Come up with Manufacturing showed the sector is contracting, though not yet at a rate consistent with a recession. Other economic data has been less strong, though, particularly on the consumer side.
“We are seeing more weakness in manufacturing. I do think in the coming months we bequeath see manufacturing turn negative,” Zandi said. “Even more importantly, demand is slowing in many sectors, and I don’t see any stabilization in that and that’s growing to continue.”
Economists sometimes will tweak their estimates for the government’s pivotal nonfarm payrolls report based on the ADP numbers. For September, granting, expectations are similar: economists surveyed by Dow Jones are looking for Friday’s Labor Department estimate to show payroll development of 145,000 and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 3.7%.
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