Job growth slowed in US firms

The United States private sector job growth has slowed in August for the second consecutive month, signaling that US economic recovery is stagnating.

The US private sector added 91,000 new jobs in August which was less than the 100,000 expected jobs and below the 109,000 jobs added in July, according to a report from the private payrolls firm, ADP.

“This month’s jobs figures show modest job creation,” AFP quoted a statement by ADP chief executive Gary Butler.

The report “suggests that the trend in employment moderated somewhat in August at a pace below what would be consistent with a stable unemployment rate,” chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, which produces the ADP report, Joel Prakken said.

ADP figures come ahead of a government report on employment, due on Friday, which is expected to show that the overall job creation fell to 73,000, from 117,000 in July, with private payrolls easing to 110,000 from 154,000.

After the US economic growth stalled to a devastating rate of 1 percent in the second quarter of 2011, following an even more shocking 0.4 percent in the first three months of the year, US President Barack Obama and his administration have come under increased pressure to take steps to jump start growth and reduce unemployment.

Currently the unemployment rate is the worst level since President Ronald Reagan was in office in the 1980s.