ADP employment reports says economy added 132,000 jobs in August, suggesting slower growth

The U.S. economy added 132,000 jobs in August, according to the ADP National Employment report.

“Our data suggests a shift toward a more conservative pace of hiring, possibly as companies try to decipher the economy’s conflicting signals,” ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said, per the New York Post. “We could be at an inflection point, from super-charged job gains to something more normal.”

Payrolls grew by 528,000 in July, sharply exceeding expectations. 

ADP suspended its metric for June and July while it overhauled the way it was calculated after a string of poor estimates. ADP called the National Employment report “an independent indicator and complementary to government data” 

The metric has been met with some suspicion by economists, who view its revamped methodology as still somewhat errant.

“The new series paints a markedly different picture of employment than both the official household and establishment surveys,” said Capital Economics economist Michael Pearce, per the Post. Other reports the outlet cited suggested the job numbers for August rose by a considerably greater margin.