The U.S. shed 32,000 private-sector jobs in September, payroll-processing giant ADP said on Wednesday.

That is down from a revised loss of 3,000 in August. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected an increase of 45,000.

The leisure and hospitality sector shed 19,000 jobs last month, the largest decline among major sectors, according to ADP. Education and health services were bright spots, with a collective gain of 33,000 jobs.

Small establishments with fewer than 50 employees shed 40,000 jobs, while those with 500 or more employees added 33,000 jobs.

ADP’s report is based on data from more than 26 million workers whose employers use ADP to manage payrolls. That is a large sample of U.S. private-sector employment, which includes about 136 million workers. ADP’s monthly numbers sometimes diverge widely from BLS figures, which are based on a broader survey of employers.

Still, ADP’s methodology was substantially revised in 2022 in an effort to make it an independent reading of the labor market, as opposed to a forecast of the BLS readings. As a result, economists say that ADP’s numbers have become a more useful measure. In recent months the ADP report registered weakness in the job market before it showed up in revised, official figures.