Private payrolls contracted for the first time since the early days of the pandemic.
The decrease of 123,000 provided a sign that the decline countered seven straight months of job growth coming out of the furloughs as the U.S. economy shut down to combat the Covid-19 spread.
Companies laid off 19.4 million workers in April and have recovered 9.9 million since, but the leisure and hospitality sector led the cuts, as states and municipalities brought back restrictions on indoor dining, while outdoor eating became less practical.
Almost all the layoffs came from companies that employ more than 1,000 workers and more cuts are likely to come.
Industries seeing growth included professional and business services, education and health services and construction.
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