Private-sector employers added just 38,000 jobs in August, the slowest pace of hiring since January, according to the ADP National Employment Report released Thursday.
The report, produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, showed hiring concentrated almost entirely in a handful of sectors. Education and health services led all gains with 45,000 jobs added, followed by leisure and hospitality (16,000) and construction (12,000). Those gains were offset by losses in manufacturing (-17,000), professional and business services (-16,000) and trade, transportation and utilities (-5,000). Overall, goods-producing industries shed 10,000 jobs while service-providing industries added 48,000. Nearly all of the month’s net job growth came from large employers with 500 or more workers, who added 34,000 positions; mid-sized firms were essentially flat.
Regionally, the Northeast led with 38,000 jobs added, including 26,000 in the Mid-Atlantic — which includes Maryland — and 12,000 in New England. The West posted a net loss of 8,000 jobs. July’s initial estimate of 44,000 jobs added was revised upward to 46,000.
Pay growth continued to cool alongside hiring. Base pay for all workers rose 3.2% year-over-year, with job-stayers seeing 3.0% growth and job-changers 4.7%. Gross pay — which includes bonuses, commissions and tips on top of base wages — rose 4.7% overall, with job-changers seeing the strongest gains at 7.3%, down from 7.5% the prior month. ADP said pay growth has been decelerating for four straight years, with lower-paid workers in particular now seeing base pay growth slower than before the pandemic.
“Pay can tell us a lot about today’s choppy hiring,” said Dr. Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, adding that understanding where pay growth is accelerating or slowing is key to reading current hiring patterns.
Thursday’s release also marked an expansion of ADP’s Pay Insights tool, which now covers 56 U.S. metropolitan areas and adds new breakdowns by worker mobility, demographics, sector, employer size and pay quartile, alongside an interactive online platform.
For Southern Maryland, the sectors driving August’s gains — education, health care and construction — are among the region’s largest employers, particularly in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties, where hospital systems, school systems and ongoing housing development anchor much of the local job market. The pullback in professional and business services is worth watching locally given the region’s reliance on federal contracting tied to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, though the report does not break out contractor-specific data.
August’s slowdown follows a similarly weak July report, when private payrolls added just 44,000 jobs and the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady amid signs of a cooling labor market. The September 2026 ADP National Employment Report is scheduled for release Sept. 30 at 8:15 a.m. ET.
