S&P 500 hits record, Dow, Nasdaq jump ahead of make-or-break jobs report

The US labor market continues to show signs that it entered a lower gear over the summer.

ADP’s private payrolls report for August out Thursday morning showed there were just 54,000 private sector jobs created last month, fewer than the 73,000 that were expected and the 106,000 jobs added to the private sector last month.

The largest job gains were seen in the leisure & hospitality and construction sectors, where 50,000 and 15,000 jobs were created last month, respectively.

Job losses were steepest in the transportation & utilities sector, as well as education and health services, with 17,000 and 12,000 fewer folks employed in those sectors in August when compared to the prior month.

In a release, Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said labor market momentum from earlier this year had been “whipsawed” by uncertainty around the economy.

“A variety of things could explain the hiring slowdown,” Richardson added, “including labor shortages, skittish consumers, and AI disruptions.”

ADP’s report comes a day before the government is set to release its monthly jobs report, with that release garnering added attention after significant revisions to May and June’s data prompted President Trump to fire the head of the BLS, which publishes the data.