Meanwhile, the estimated change in employment for August was revised to a decrease of 37,000 from the previously-announced decreased of 33,000 jobs, ADP said.
The service sector of the economy added 64,000 jobs, while employment in the goods-producing sector declined 72,000, its 22nd consecutive monthly decline. Manufacturing employment fell 48,000 in September, its 25th consecutive monthly decline.
Don't read too much into ADP data
Economist Richard Felson said the September ADP private sector report was modest good news, in that it was benign. "We can't project or read too much into the ADP data because it is just a segment of the job market, but at least the job loss numbers were not large," Felson said.
Most of the decline in employment during September was accounted for by job losses at medium-sized companies, which registered a 30,000-job decline. Meanwhile, small businesses added 28,000 jobs in May 2008. Large businesses cut just 6,000 jobs during the month.
Conditions in two economic sectors hard hit by the slumping housing sector, construction and financial activities, veered in different directions in September. Construction employment fell 29,000 -- its 22nd consecutive monthly decline -- bringing the total decline in construction jobs since the employment peak in August 2006 to 409,000. Meanwhile, employment in financial activities added 4,000 jobs in August.
Economic Analysis: In general, a surprisingly mild private sector job report. The 8,000-job loss means the downtrend in employment continues, but it wasn't even a double-digit-decline, let alone a triple-digit-decline. However, economists caution that one should not read too much into the monthly ADP job report, due to its limited scope (private sector payrolls). The more-telling statistic is the U.S. Labor Department's monthly payroll statistic, and the August data will be released Friday, October 3 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. That report is expected to show a 100,000-job decline, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists.
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