US private sector employment dropped in August for the first time in seven months, signaling a weakening economic recovery, payrolls firm ADP said Wednesday.

Some 10,000 private-sector jobs were lost last month following a revised July increase of 37,000 jobs, ADP said in a report.

Most economists had expected 13,000 jobs to be created.

"The decline in private employment in August confirms a pause in the recovery already evident in other economic data," ADP said.

"The deceleration in employment was evident in the major sectors and by size of business."

August's employment decline followed six increases from February through July.

In addition, over those six months, the average monthly gain in employment was 37,000 with no evidence of acceleration, ADP said.

The weak data came ahead of the government's release of the monthly employment data Friday, with most analysts forecasting non-farm payrolls to fall by 118,000 in August and unemployment to edge up to 9.6 percent from the current 9.5 percent rate.

"Today's report brings clearly disappointing news for the labor market," said Natixis analyst Thomas Julien.

The US economy's recovery from a brutal recession has weakened this year, largely as a result of unemployment that has dampened consumer spending.

"Demand growth has slowed, largely triggered by the spring plunge in stock prices, and cautious companies are responding by holding fire on hiring," said Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist with High Frequency Economics.

While he does not expect a spiral down into sustained serious net job losses, "a real revival in payrolls is clearly still some way.

"Deleveraging hurts, and it takes time."

ADP said that in August, employment in the service-providing sector rose by 30,000, the seventh consecutive monthly gain, but the increase was not enough to offset a decline in the goods-producing sector of 40,000.

Employment in the manufacturing sector decreased 6,000, the second consecutive monthly decline.

Large businesses, defined as those with 500 or more workers, saw employment remain essentially flat while employment among medium-size businesses decreased by 5,000 and among small-size businesses slipped by 6,000.

Construction employment also dropped, by 33,000, while that in the financial services sector fell by 5,000.