U.S. private sector adds 177,000 jobs in August: ADP

The U.S. private sector added 177,000 jobs in August, said a private survey released Wednesday, a new signal that U.S. job market kept improving.

U.S. private companies added 177,000 jobs in August, said the National Employment Report released jointly by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and Moody's Analytics, based on a monthly survey.

The data is better than the market expectation of 175,000 job gains. Private jobs added in July were revised up to 194,000 from the previous report of 179,000 increase.

"Job growth in August was stable and consistent with levels from previous months as consumer conditions improve," said Ahu Yildirmaz, head of the ADP Research Institute.

"The American job machine continues to hum along. Job creation remains strong, with most industries and companies of all sizes adding solidly to their payrolls," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics.

"The U.S. economy will soon be at full employment," added Zandi.

In August, small and medium-sized businesses accounted for most of the employment gains, adding 107,000 jobs, while large businesses with more than 500 employees added 70,000 jobs, according to the report.

Employment in the service sector rose by 183,000 jobs in December, down from 199,000 in July. Meanwhile, the goods-producing employment kept falling by 6,000 jobs in August, after shrinking 5,000 in July.

The ADP survey studied data from private businesses with more than 23 million workers on payrolls but excludes government job growth. Endit