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  Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters

  A measure of hiring by US businesses fell to the lowest level in seven years in the third quarter as trade tensions increasingly weighed on the economic outlook.

• The National Association of Business Economists said in a survey released Monday that just one-fifth of companies hired more workers over the past three months.
• “Higher tariffs are disrupting business conditions, especially in the goods-producing sector,” one NABE economist said. 
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A measure of hiring by US businesses fell to the lowest level in seven years in the third quarter as trade tensions increasingly weighed on the economic outlook.

In a survey released Monday, the National Association of Business Economists said one-fifth of companies hired more workers over the past three months. That was compared with one in three in July and brought the gauge to its weakest point since 2012.

The decline was at least partly driven by trade disputes between the Trump administration and major economies, the business economists said. Tariffs have dimmed the […]