WASHINGTON (AP) — Two reports showed Wednesday that American service companies grew more slowly in March and private employers pulled back on hiring. The declines suggest businesses may have grown more cautious last month after federal spending cuts took effect.

The Institute for Supply Management said that its index of nonmanufacturing activity fell to 54.4 last month. That is down from 56 in February and the lowest in seven months. Any reading above 50 signals expansion.

Slower hiring and a steep drop in new orders drove the index down. A gauge of hiring fell 3.9 points to 53.3, the lowest since November. That means companies kept hiring, just at a slower pace.

The group’s report covers companies that employ roughly 90 percent of the work force. It measures growth in industries that include retailing, construction, health care and financial services.

A separate report from the payroll processor ADP also pointed to slightly weaker hiring in March. ADP said private employers added 158,000 jobs in March, down from 237,000 the previous month. Construction companies did not add any jobs after three months of solid gains.

Economists were not overly concerned with the weaker reports. Several noted that ADP’s figures were less reliable than the government’s more comprehensive employment report, which comes out on Friday.

Still, many say the pace of hiring has probably dropped off from the previous four months, when employers added an average of 200,000 net jobs a month. And a few reduced their forecasts for March job growth after seeing the two reports.

Jim O’Sullivan, chief United States economist at High Frequency Economics, now expects just 160,000 net jobs in the March employment report, instead of 215,000. Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, said her group had lowered its forecast to 155,000, from 220,000.

Ms. Lee said businesses might have temporarily suspended hiring because they wanted to see the impact of $85 billion in government spending cuts, which began on March 1.

Still, most economists say any slowdown is likely to be temporary. Most say growth accelerated in the January-to-March quarter to a 3 percent annual rate, buoyed by a resilient consumer and a steady rebound in housing.

And even if growth slows in the April-to-June period to roughly 2 percent, as some predict, that would still leave the economy expanding at a solid pace in the first half of the year.

“For now, there is still a lot of good news on the economy,” said Paul Edelstein, an economist at IHS Global Insight. “Home construction and demand are growing, and jobs are being added.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/business/economy/survey-shows-158000-new-jobs-in-march.html?partner=rss&emc=rss