U.S. Private Sector Losses 33,000 Jobs In August, ADP Says

September 4, 2008 11:34 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - The private companies in the U.S. slashed more-than-expected number of jobs in the month of August, according to a private report released on Thursday.

According to the ADP National Employment Report, nonfarm private employment declined by 33,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis in August, up from the revised gain of 1,000 to 9,000 in July.

"The decline in August continues the recent trend in employment that is consistent with an economy that is growing slowly but has not fallen into recession," Joel Prakken, Chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, said in a statement.

According to the report, the more number of job losses were registered in the goods-producing sector, which dropped for 21 consecutive months, dropping by 78,000 jobs during last month.

The second sector losing jobs was the manufacturing sector, marking its twenty-fourth consecutive monthly drop, shedding as many as 56,000 jobs.

"These losses were somewhat offset by employment gains in the service-providing sector of the economy which advanced by 45,000," Prakken said.

Larger businesses with 500 or more workers reported a decline of 28,000, while mid-sized businesses with 50 and 499 workers shed as many as 25,000.

The report is jointly produced by ADP along with St. Louis-based Macroeconomic Advisers LLC and it is based on data collected from 399,000 different businesses with about 24 million workers on payrolls.