The number of monthly fresh formal hirings saw a slowdown in August, signalling a downturn in the formal labour market.In August, the number of new monthly subscribers under the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) decreased by nearly 11 per cent to 930,000.This is a four-month low from 1.05 million in July, according to the latest monthly payroll data released by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Sunday.