Gallup’s Job Creation Index slipped to +17 in July, down from a position at or near +20 from April through June, the polling firm reported Wednesday.
The index measures employees’ views of hiring conditions where they work. Thirty-four percent of full and part-time workers said employers are expanding their workforce and 17 percent said people were being let go; hence, the +17 figure.
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Hiring was strongest in the midwest, at +21, and weakest in the west, at +13. Private sector hiring dipped 3 points to +17, while the government worker index was at -5.
Gallup’s Lydia Saad wrote that dips have been common over the last three years as the country is recovering from the throes of the recession.
“A second month of decline in August, should that happen, would be a more disconcerting economic sign,” she wrote.
The results came from interviews of 16,314 employed adults ages 18 and older.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will report the monthly jobs report for July on Friday. The economy added a disappointing 80,000 jobs in June, and the national unemployment rate stayed at 8.2 percent.
The payroll-processing firm ADP reported that private-sector employment increased by 163,000 last month. That was slightly less than 172,000 it reported for June - a figure revised slightly downward from an initial report.
