Private job gains in June were 281,000, which was the strongest reading since November 2012. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast that the ADPNational Employment Report would show a gain of 230,000 jobs. "The July employment gain was softer than June, but remains consistent with a steadily improving job market," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "If current trends continue, the economy will return to full employment by late 2016." U.S. companies slowed the expansion of their payrolls from June's blistering pace with goods-producing firms adding 16,000 jobs compared with 43,000 in June.