Report says hiring was weak in June

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON

In another sign of tepid growth, U.S. private-sector firms created a lackluster 13,000 jobs in June, according to the employment report released Wednesday by payroll company ADP.

Hiring was “disappointingly weak” in June, said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, which produces the report from anonymous data supplied by ADP.

Some economists lowered their estimates for this Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report after the weak ADP numbers, and others said the risks had risen that Friday’s report could be weaker than they are forecasting.

Still, economists surveyed by MarketWatch are forecasting stronger private-sector job growth of 115,000 when the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports its estimates Friday.

The ADP report doesn’t include government workers. In June, about 240,000 temporary workers at the U.S. Census lost their jobs, and thousands of state and local government workers may have been laid off. As a result, overall nonfarm payrolls are expected to fall by 130,000 in June, according to MarketWatch’s survey of top economists.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.