Washington, August 1 (IANS): Private companies in the US added 200,000 jobs in July, indicating a steady improvement in the labour market, a survey said.

The number of jobs was slightly up from the revised figure of 198,000 in June and the largest monthly gain this year, Xinhua cited the National Employment Report as saying.

The report was released jointly by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and Moody's Analytics.

Economists were expecting an increase of 185,000 private jobs this month.

Small and medium businesses accounted for the majority of the employment gains in July, adding roughly 142,000 jobs, the report showed.

Employment in the goods-producing sector rose by 22,000, while the service sector added 177,000 jobs, the largest increase since November.

"Job growth remains remarkably stable," Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said.

"The job market has admirably weathered the fiscal headwinds, tax increases and government spending cuts. This bodes well for the next year when those headwinds are set to fade."

The ADP survey studies data from private businesses totalling more than 23 million workers but excludes government job growth. The Labor Department will release its jobs report for July Friday.