- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
US businesses struggled to hire in April amid low unemployment
US private businesses saw surprisingly weak hiring in April, a survey showed Wednesday, amid low unemployment that's made their quest to find workers even more difficult.
Payroll services firm ADP reported private employment rose 247,000 last month, considerably less than expected and down from March's upwardly revised total.
The survey is considered a preview of the government jobs report due out Friday, and could foreshadow weak hiring overall last month in the US economy, where unemployment has nearly returned to the level it had before Covid-19 caused mass layoffs two years ago.
ADP's chief economist Nela Richardson said the survey's undershoot was not a sign that jobs weren't available, but rather of a shortage of workers.
"While hiring demand remains strong, labor supply shortages caused job gains to soften for both goods producers and services providers," she said.
"As the labor market tightens, small companies, with fewer than 50 employees, struggle with competition for wages amid increased costs."
Small businesses lost 120,000 positions last month, particularly those with between one and 19 employees, which lost 96,000, the data said.
Large businesses however added 321,000 jobs, while medium businesses added 46,000.
Service providers made up the bulk of the job gains, with 202,000 positions added.
Leisure and hospitality, the sector comprising the bars and restaurants that suffered greatly from Covid-19, added the most positions in that sector with 77,000, while professional and business services firms added 50,000.
Goods producers added 46,000 positions, the data said.
Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics said despite the miss in the ADP survey, there's reason to be optimistic about Friday's jobs report.
"Recent data on the labor market including the downtrend in layoffs and ongoing job growth are signaling positive momentum, even as the supply side remains a constraint," she said in an analysis.
V.Fontes--PC