ADP Report: U.S. Lost 32,000 Jobs in September

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The U.S. shed 32,000 private-sector jobs in September, payroll processing giant ADP said on Wednesday.

That is down from a revised loss of 3,000 in August. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected an increase of 45,000.

ADP’s report doesn’t include government workers, but economists are giving it a closer look this month. That is because the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly jobs report, which was scheduled to come out this Friday, may get delayed by the government shutdown.

The surprise job loss in September is the latest sign that the labor market is weakening. Job growth has slowed to a trickle this year even as the unemployment rate has held mostly steady. The Federal Reserve last month lowered short-term interest rates by a quarter percentage point and signaled more cuts are likely, citing weak hiring. The labor market “is a little bit tenuous right now,” said Aditya Bhave, an economist at Bank of America.

The leisure and hospitality sector shed 19,000 jobs last month, the largest decline among major sectors, according to ADP. Education and health services were bright spots, with a collective gain of 33,000 jobs.

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ADP’s report is based on data from more than 26 million workers whose employers use ADP to manage payrolls. That is a large sample of U.S. private-sector employment, which includes about 136 million workers. ADP’s monthly numbers sometimes diverge widely from BLS figures, which are based on a broader survey of employers.

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Economists polled by the Journal had expected the BLS September jobs report to show a gain of 51,000 private sector and government workers.

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