ADP: US Lost 32,000 Jobs in September

Private payrolls saw their biggest decline in 2½ years during September, a further sign of labor market weakening that compounds the data blackout accompanying the U.S. government shutdown.

Companies shed a seasonally adjusted 32,000 jobs during the month, the biggest slide since March 2023, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 45,000.

In addition to the drop in September, the August payrolls number was revised to a loss of 3,000 from an initially reported increase of 54,000.

Job losses spread across sectors during September, offset by a 33,000 increase in education and health services as schools reopened and health care continued its long streak of hiring.

Elsewhere, leisure and hospitality, a key sector for consumer demand, saw a loss of 19,000 as vacation season wound down. The other services category posted a drop of 16,000, while professional and business services was off 13,000, trade, transportation and utilities declined by 7,000, and construction lost 5,000.

On a broad scale, service providers decreased 28,000 and goods producers shed 3,000. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees lost 40,000, while companies with 500 or more employees added 33,000.

Even with the slowdown in hiring, wages in September grew 4.5% on an annual basis, little changed from August, ADP said. However, the rate of increase slowed to 6.6% for those changing positions, down half a percentage point from August.