NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. private employers added the fewest jobs in six months in November, well shy of economists' expectations, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.
U.S. companies' payrolls rose by 67,000 last month, the ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) National Employment Report said. The median forecast among economists polled by Reuters called for a gain of 140,000 jobs, with estimates ranging from 120,000 to 188,000.
It was the lowest monthly gain since May when just 46,000 were created, the fewest since 2010, and continues a trend of decelerating job growth that has taken hold this year.
Private payroll gains in the month earlier were revised down to 121,000 from an originally reported 125,000 increase.
The report is jointly developed with Moody's Analytics.
The ADP figures come ahead of the U.S. Labor Department's more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which includes both public and private-sector employment.
Economists polled by Reuters are looking for U.S. private payroll employment to have grown by 175,000 jobs in November, up from 131,000 the month before. Total non-farm employment is expected to have risen by 180,000 after climbing by 128,000 in October.
The unemployment rate is forecast to stay steady at the 3.6 percent recorded a month earlier.