WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Private-sector hiring slowed down slightly in July but remained healthy and broad-based, according to data released Wednesday morning.

Employers added 218,000 private-sector jobs this month, down from 281,000 in June, Automatic Data Processing reported. This is the fourth straight month of job growth above 200,000.

“It feels to me like the job market is really humming,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, which prepares the report using ADP data. He said the economy was on track to create three million jobs this year.

Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected ADP to report that private-sector employment rose by 235,000 jobs in July, compared with an original estimate of 281,000 for June.

News was also good elsewhere Wednesday morning, as the government reported that U.S. economic growth picked up to a 4.0% annual pace in the second quarter from a decline of 2.1% in the first three months of the year. Read more about GDP report.

Stock futures US:DJU4 were higher and the 3-year Treasury note US:3_YEAR yield topped 1% for the first time after the data was released.

Analysts use ADP’s data to get a feeling for the Labor Department’s employment report, which will be released Friday and covers government jobs in addition to the private sector. Economists polled by Marketwatch expect the government’s report to show that nonfarm employment rose by 230,000 jobs in July, down from a gain of 288,000 in June.

Later Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will release its latest policy statement, and observers expect the central bank to continue to trim the size of its bond-buying program.

Job gains were broad-based across sectors according to details of ADP’s report.

Small businesses added 84,000 private-sector jobs, medium businesses added 92,000 and large businesses added 41,000. Meanwhile, service providers added 202,000 private-sector jobs, and goods producers added 16,000.

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