WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Companies in the U.S. private sector shed 473,000 jobs in June, according to the ADP employment report released Wednesday.

The report comes one day before the Labor Department reports on changes in the nation's nonfarm payrolls for June.

The decline in employment was close to the consensus forecast of economists surveyed by MarketWatch in which they had called for a decline of 498,000.

Over the past three months, monthly employment losses have averaged 492,000. This is an improvement from the first quarter's average -- 691,000 in monthly job losses.

Although many economists say the economy is improving, the labor market has shown no signs of life.

"Despite some recent indications that economic activity is stabilizing, employment, which usually trails overall economic activity, is likely to decline for at least several more months, although perhaps not as rapidly as during the last six months," said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, which created the report.

Economists expect payroll employment to drop by 325,000 in June and for the unemployment rate to rise to 9.6%.

In a television interview, Prakken said that the June ADP report was consistent with the unemployment rate hitting 10% later this year.

Employment in the service-providing sector in June fell by 223,000. The goods-producing sector declined 250,000, and employment in factories dropped 146,000.

Employment in manufacturing has declined for 40 straight months.

Large businesses saw employment fall by 91,000. Medium-sized firms declined 205,000, and small firms dropped 177,000.

In a separate report, recruitment and outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas reported that job-cut announcements totaled 74,393 in June, a 15-month low.

Josh Shapiro, chief economist at MFR Inc., said the two reports suggest that the pace of economic decline has moderated from the steep decline in the last six months.

Also Wednesday, the Institute for Supply Management reported that the pace of decline of activity in the hard-hit factory sector appears to be moderating. The ISM index rose to 44.8% in June from 42.8% in May. See full story.

In addition, the National Association of Realtors reported that pending sales of existing homes ticked up in May, the fourth straight monthly gain. Read MarketWatch report.