U.S. private-sector employment grew by just 44,000 jobs in July 2026, the weakest monthly gain since January, according to ADP Research’s National Employment Report. The July figure is less than half the 95,000 jobs added in June, signaling a sharp slowdown in hiring.
Hiring momentum stalls
ADP’s NER Pulse, a weekly measure, reported a four-week moving average change of +15,000 jobs for the week ending July 11. That’s down from earlier in the year and points to a continued loss of steam in the labor market. The report is based on anonymized payroll data and does not cover government employment or produce an unemployment rate, so the full picture of the job market remains incomplete.
Pay growth holds steady
Despite the hiring slowdown, paychecks are still growing. Median annual pay in July was $62,100, according to ADP Pay Insights. Year-over-year pay growth for workers who stayed in their jobs was 4.4% in July. That’s a solid increase, though it hasn’t accelerated much in recent months.
What the data doesn’t say
The ADP report only tracks private-sector payrolls. It leaves out government jobs, which have been a source of growth in some recent months. And because it doesn’t calculate an unemployment rate, it can’t tell us whether the slowdown is due to fewer people looking for work or employers pulling back. The official jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, due later this month, will fill in some of those gaps.
For now, the July numbers raise a question: is this a temporary lull or the start of a broader cooldown? The next ADP report, covering August, will offer the first clue.
