Small Businesses Fuel Private Sector Hiring in July The private sector added 200,000 jobs in July, with small businesses once again accounting for the lion's share of employment, according to the ADP National Employment Report.

By Ray Hennessey Edited by Dan Bova

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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The private sector added 200,000 jobs in July, with small businesses once again accounting for the lion's share of employment, according to the ADP National Employment Report.

Small businesses, which ADP defines as those with on to 49 workers, added 82,000, or 41 percent of all the new payrolls. Of those, the smallest -- ones with fewer than 20 employees -- added the most, with 51,000.

Businesses with 50 to 499 workers added 60,000 jobs. Large businesses, with 500 more more employees, added the remaining 57,000. Most were large organizations, with more than 1,000 employees, which accounted for 50,000 of the new positions, according to ADP.

Small businesses have traditionally been the driving force in job creation, as the economy has slowly added more positions following the financial crisis and resulting recession. In the latest report, it appeared the all sectors -- except for manufacturing -- saw job gains, with the service sector continuing to account for much of the job growth.

The 200,000 jobs added were above the 180,000 predicted by economists. It was also above the 190,000 added in June.

Ray Hennessey

Former Editorial Director at Entrepreneur Media

Ray Hennessey is the former editorial director of Entrepreneur.

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