US private payrolls growth slowest since January

Employers in the US private sector have added 152,000 jobs in May, data by Automatic Data Processing showed on Wednesday.

This has been the slowest employment growth since January and it fell well short of market expectations of 175,000.

In May, the service-providing sector added 149,000 job positions, as follows:

– trade, transportation and utilities – 26,000 jobs;
– education/health services – 46,000 jobs;
– financial services – 28,000 jobs;
– leisure/hospitality – 12,000 jobs.

Job losses were observed in information (-7,000) and in professional/business services (-6,000), ADP said.

In the meantime, the goods-producing sector created 3,000 job positions last month, as construction added 32,000 jobs, while manufacturing (-20,000) and natural resources/mining (-9,000) cut jobs.

“Job gains and pay growth are slowing going into the second half of the year. The labor market is solid, but we’re monitoring notable pockets of weakness tied to both producers and consumers,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in a press release.

The US Dollar Index, which reflects the relative strength of the US Dollar against a basket of six other major currencies, was inching up 0.07% to 104.218 on Wednesday.