Private employers added fewer workers in May than any month in the past nine years, falling far short of analyst estimates and sending a troubling signal about the state of the U.S. labor market, The Washington Post reports.
Stock markets gave up some gains in premarket trading this morning in response to the report from ADP, a payroll processor, as investors balked at signs of trouble in an economy already racked by instability from the multi-front trade war.
The nation’s private employers added 27,000 jobs in May, the lowest monthly number since March 2010, and a far cry from the 100,000-to-250,000 range forecast by analysts. The report also is jarring in contrast with April’s, which recorded a private-sector gain of 271,000 jobs.
The ADP numbers do not bode well for the U.S. jobs report, which tallies private- and public-sector employment, that the Labor Department will release Friday. In a note to investors, Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFGR, said that he was lowering his estimates for the Labor report from 200,000 to 120,000 because of the grim picture painted by ADP. Read the full story.
