The report, from the Institute for Supply Management, was consistent with other data that show the economy was struggling two years after the recession officially ended.

The trade group of purchasing executives said its index for services companies fell to 52.7, from 53.3 in June. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

The I.S.M. index covers 90 percent of the work force. It reached a five-year high of 59.7 in February, but has fallen since then. The July reading was the lowest since February 2010.

New orders to service companies, an indication of future business, increased but at the slowest rate since August 2009, according to the I.S.M. report. Services firms are still hiring more workers, the report said. But employment growth dropped in July.

The report “suggests that the economy is not slipping into a recession but instead that growth is very weak,” said Paul Dales, an economist at Capital Economics.

Separately, the Commerce Department reported that businesses cut orders for airplanes, autos and heavy machinery in June. Factory orders dropped 0.8 percent, the second decline in three months.

Demand for durable goods fell 1.9 percent in June. Durable goods are products that are expected to last at least three years.

An important measure of business investment plans increased slightly, a positive sign amid mostly gloomy data. But business demand for transportation equipment fell 8.6 percent. That was mostly because of a big decline in volatile orders for commercial aircraft. But orders for autos and auto parts also dropped.

The reports follow a stream of dismal economic news in the last week.

Economic growth slowed to less than 1 percent in the first six months of this year, the government said Friday.

Consumer spending, which drives 70 percent of economic activity, fell in June for the first time since September 2009.

And manufacturers recorded their weakest growth in two years in July, according to the separate I.S.M. manufacturing index that was released Monday.

As the economy has slumped, so has hiring. Employers added only 18,000 jobs in June, the fewest in nine months. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent, the highest level this year.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that unemployment rates rose in more than 90 percent of the nation’s cities in June, mirroring the national slowdown in hiring.

The I.S.M., a trade group of purchasing executives based in Tempe, Ariz., compiles its service sector index by surveying about 375 purchasing executives across the country.

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