ADP reports 177K jobs added in June, ahead of Labor Dept. figures

July 5 (UPI) -- Companies in the United States added fewer workers than expected in June because businesses struggled to find enough people to hire, a report said Thursday.

The monthly analysis by ADP said private sector employment increased by 177,000 jobs from May to June.

The employment increase last month, though, was less than the expected gain of 190,000.

"Business' number one problem is finding qualified workers," Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said. "At the current pace of job growth, if sustained, this problem is set to get much worse. These labor shortages will only intensify across all industries and company sizes."

Thursday's report precedes the government's monthly jobs report Friday.

June marked the fourth straight month jobs growth was lower than 200,000. ADP's report said, though, the U.S. labor market is nearing full employment.

The report also found hiring in construction rose by 13,000 and factories added 12,000 workers last month. Professional and business services added 33,000 workers and health services added 37,000. Information services lost 2,000 workers.