Just 89,000 new jobs were added by the private sector last month

Payroll processor ADP revealed on Wednesday that US employers in the private sector added an estimated 89,000 jobs in September, a far lower total than anticipated and a possible sign of a sharp retreat in the labor market.

Both the upwardly revised August total of 180,000 jobs added and the September total fell far short of economists' projections, which called for 153,000 jobs added. Since January 2021, this is the slowest rate of job growth that ADP has recorded.

Employer trends are independently measured by the ADP report, which is created using aggregated and anonymized payroll data from its clientele.

Although ADP's calculations don't always match the official federal jobs report, which is released on Friday, they are occasionally used as a stand-in for hiring activity overall, which has been progressively decreasing.