When ADP released its monthly employment survey in January, the news was decidedly mixed: U.S. employers continued to add workers, with the biggest upticks seen in financial services and leisure/hospitality—the latter particularly significant after many years of hiring hurdles. Education/health services, professional services and IT saw gains as well. The outlook for other sectors was not quite as rosy, with construction, trade/transportation/utilities, and natural resources facing employment decreases. Additionally, ADP reported pay stagnation for workers who stayed in their jobs, with pay growth holding at 7.3%. Only the information sector saw a change—for the worse—as pay growth decelerated from 7% to 6.6%. Those who changed jobs, however, saw pay growth accelerated to 15.4%.

Checking in again with ADP after the midpoint of the year, the general landscape looks similar. "The economy is doing better than expected and a healthy labor market continues to support household spending," said Nela Richardson, chief economist for ADP. "We continue to see a slowdown in pay growth without broad-based job loss."

The July report shows employers adding 324,000 jobs in July, with leisure/hospitality once again leading the charge (201,000 jobs added). Strong gains were seen in natural resources and mining (48,000 added), information (36,000), and trade/transportation/utilities (30,000). Manufacturing saw the deepest loss, shedding 36,000 jobs.