WASHINGTON (MarketWatch)—Private-sector hiring held steady in July, as employers added 179,000 jobs in July after a revised 176,000 job gains in the prior month, ADP reported Wednesday.

Economists had expected a July gain of 165,000, compared with an originally reported increase of 172,000 in June.

Economists 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 185,000 last month compared with the strong June gain of 287,000 jobs.

The ADP has shown steady job growth while the government data has been volatile.

The strong nonfarm-payrolls report in June followed a gain n May that was cut to a paltry 11,000.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, which prepares the report using ADP’s data, said on CNBC that the last two months jobs reports “both overstated the case.”

“Underlying job growth is about 150,000-200,000,” Zandi said. While this is a slight slowdown from the 200,000 jobs average job gains over the past six years, “the labor market is strong, it is good,” he added.