Analysts were left shocked Wednesday after ADP released its latest jobs report that showed private employers had shed 32,000 jobs in September, a stark contrast to the expected gain of around 50,000 jobs.
“Very disappointing, it was a weak number; this is private sector jobs for September, the total comes in negative 32,000,” said CNBC host Sara Eisen on Wednesday.
“And that was a surprise because economists were looking for an increase of 51,000. Also, the revision was not good. August was revised down sharply, the month now showing negative 3,000 compared to the initial read of positive 54,000... the labor market is softening."
The ADP jobs report does not factor in government jobs, with the official jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics now likely to be delayed due to the ongoing government shutdown that kicked off Wednesday morning at midnight. Even so, the numbers spelled poorly for President Donald Trump’s economy, leading to a number of media personalities to express their shock.
Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo called the numbers as “worse than expected,” and Bloomberg News’ Michael McKee described the numbers as "obviously the worst in quite some time.”