Private businesses hired at a better-than-expected pace in July,
according to a report released Wednesday.
Private-sector jobs in the U.S. increased 163,000 last month,
according to a national employment report calculated by payroll
processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and consultancy
Macroeconomic Advisers.
The gain was far above economists' median expectation of 108,000
contained in a survey done by Dow Jones Newswires. The June data
were revised to show an advance of 172,000 instead of the 176,000
increase reported earlier.
The ADP survey tallies only private-sector jobs, while the
Bureau of Labor Statistics' nonfarm payroll data, to be released
Friday, include government workers.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expect total nonfarm
payrolls increased by 95,000 in July and the jobless rate is
projected to remain at 8.2%.
Forecasters are unlikely to change their projections for
Friday's payrolls in part because ADP has had big misses in recent
months. For June employment, for example, ADP originally estimated
176,000 new jobs, but the total BLS gain was only 80,000.
The latest ADP report showed large businesses with 500 employees
or more added 23,000 employees in July, while medium-size
businesses added 67,000 workers and small businesses that employ
fewer than 50 workers hired 73,000 new workers.
Service-sector jobs increased by 148,000 in July, and factory
jobs increased by 6,000.
ADP, of Roseland, N.J., says it processes payments of one in six
U.S. workers. Macroeconomic Advisers, based in St. Louis, is an
economic-consulting firm.
In other job news Wednesday, TrimTabs Investment Research said
its calculation of July payrolls showed a smaller gain of 115,000.
Trimtabs uses daily tax deposits to calculate the monthly change in
payrolls.
"We are unlikely to see any significant improvements in the job
market without further government stimulus," the TrimTabs report
said.
Write to Kathleen Madigan at kathleen.madigan@dowjones.com
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