Companies in the United States added more workers than forecast in June, signaling that job growth might pick up in the second half of the year, Bloomberg reported.

A private report from ADP Employer Services said that a 157,000 increase followed a revised 36,000 gain the prior month. Economists had predicted an advance of only 70,000.

“The report suggests that what we saw in May payrolls was a slowdown caused by temporary factors, not a deterioration,” said Sean Incremona, a senior economist at 4Cast Inc., in an interview with Bloomberg. “Companies continue to add workers at a moderate pace. We continue to slog along.”

Small companies, defined as those with fewer than 50 employees, added the most workers, 88,000. Medium-sized businesses – 50 to 499 employees – added 59,000. Large businesses added 10,000 jobs.

The U.S. Department of labor said today that first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell to a level that show the labor market will take time to heal. Claims dropped by 14,000 to 418,000 in the week ended July 2.