US companies hired 330K new workers in July, way below 653K expected

US companies added far fewer jobs than expected in July, with the private sector hiring just 330,000 workers for the month, according to a disappointing report published Wednesday by payroll processing firm ADP.

The gain was well below the 653,000 new jobs expected to be added by economists surveyed by Dow Jones as well as the 680,000 jobs added in June, according to the revised figures released Wednesday. “The labor market recovery continues to exhibit uneven progress, but progress nonetheless. July payroll data reports a marked slowdown from the second quarter pace in jobs growth,” Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, said in a statement.