Private Hiring Hits Weakest Pace Since January

American private employers added about 38,000 jobs in August, the weakest month of hiring since January, payroll processor ADP reported Wednesday.

That is down from an upwardly revised 46,000 in July and well below the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 47,000, according to CNBC.

Job growth was concentrated in a handful of industries. Manufacturing, professional services and trade all shed workers.

The Numbers

Education and health services led all categories with 45,000 jobs added, CNBC reported. Leisure and hospitality added 16,000 and construction added 12,000.

On the losing side: manufacturing shed 17,000 jobs, professional and business services lost 16,000, and both natural resources and mining and trade, transportation and utilities fell by 5,000 each.

Almost all of the growth came from the biggest employers. Companies with 500 or more workers added 34,000 jobs; firms with fewer than 50 employees added just 3,000.

Pay gains were flat. For workers who stayed put, base pay rose 3% from a year earlier and gross pay — which includes tips, commissions and bonuses — rose 4.4%, both unchanged from July, CNBC reported. ZeroHedge, citing the same release, said pay growth for job-changers slipped from 7.5% to 7.3%.