Private hiring slowed dramatically in November in a sign that a stubbornly hot labor market may be cooling off, payroll processor ADP reported Wednesday.

ADP reported that companies added 127,000 positions in November, a decline from the 239,000 reported in October. It was the fewest monthly job adds since January and well below the Dow Jones forecast of 190,000.

The Labor Department is scheduled to release its jobs report for November on Friday. Dow Jones expects a gain of 200,000 jobs. The Labor Department reported 261,000 nonfarm jobs were added in October.

The ADP report shows the leisure and hospitality market becoming the biggest gainer, adding an additional 224,000 jobs in November. However, manufacturing lost 100,000 jobs and business services lost 77,000.

Education and health sectors added 55,000 positions in November.

Small and mid-sized employers add the most jobs, hiring 288,000 new workers.

The average wage rose 7.6% in November from a year ago, a slight decrease from the 7.7% rise for October.

"Companies are no longer in hyper-replacement mode," said Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist. "Fewer people are quitting and the post-pandemic recovery is stabilizing."

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