Aug. 4, 2010 (United Press International) -- Payroll firm Automatic Data Processing said Wednesday the U.S. private sector added 42,000 jobs from June to July.
The number of jobs added to the economy in the sixth consecutive month of increases came in slightly higher than the consensus forecast of 40,000 jobs.
The additional jobs were considerably more than the 13,000 private-sector jobs added a month ago and significantly less than the 57,000 added in April to May.
ADP said the monthly increases have averaged "a modest 37,000" per month February through July.
The figure is positive, but far sort of the number needed to drop the unemployment rate, which stands at 9.5 percent.
The government's report on employment, due Friday, completes the picture with the addition of public sector jobs and an array of descriptive data. The unemployment rate is likely to stagnate, however, as more people enter the workforce each month.
