Hiring decelerated to the slowest pace in two years as sectors including business services and education and health shed jobs, pointing to a weakened demand for workers.

Private-sector payrolls increased by 37,000 last month, according to ADP Research, lower than all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. That marked the second month in a row when the figures were well below expectations.

“After a strong start to the year, hiring is losing momentum,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said Wednesday in a statement.

The figures suggest the past two months of high anxiety around President Donald Trump’s ever-changing economic policies weighed on business staffing decisions. Hiring has slowed and it is taking longer for people who are out of work to find a new job. Economists anticipate the labor market will show more signs of cooling in the coming months.

Trade and transportation and manufacturing also lost jobs in May, the data show. However, leisure and hospitality, as well financial activities, increased hiring.

Stock futures pared gains and Treasury yields declined.

On social media, Trump reiterated that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should lower interest rates, following the ADP report.

A majority of consumers in a University of Michigan survey continue to anticipate that business conditions will worsen over the next year and unemployment will rise. Fed officials are waiting to see further data on the impact from trade policies before adjusting interest rates, but have acknowledged that tariffs could lead to higher inflation and slower growth.

The ADP report, published in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, showed wage growth was little changed. Workers who changed jobs saw a 7% increase in pay, while those who stayed put saw a 4.5% gain. ADP bases its findings on payrolls covering more than 25 million US private-sector employees.

The government’s May employment report due Friday is expected to show that growth in nonfarm payrolls slowed from a solid April hiring pace and the unemployment rate remained steady.