ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Job Creation Slows

The payroll processing firm ADP said Thursday that only 156,000 people were added to private sector payrolls in April, way below the median estimate for 196,000. In March, the previously reported payrolls were revised lower by 6,000, down to 194,000.

“The Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector had its best month of employment gains since last June,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, VP and head of the ADP Research Institute. “Steady employment growth and accelerating wage growth in the workforce appear to be benefitting the Trade segment in particular.”

Continuing an unfortunate trend for wages, low-paying jobs paved the way for job creation in April. Service-providing employment opportunities, which are lower-paying jobs, rose by 191,000 jobs in March, down from 204,000 in February. The ADP National Employment Report indicates that professional/business services contributed 28,000 jobs, down sharply from February’s 51,000. Trade/transportation/utilities grew by 42,000, well above the 24,000 jobs added the previous month.

Financial activities added 14,000 jobs which is in line with the average monthly increase in that sector over the past year.

“The job market continues on its amazing streak. The March job gain of 200,000 is consistent with average monthly job growth of the past more than four years,”Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said. “The only industry reducing payrolls is energy as has been the case for over a year. All indications are that the job machine will remain in high gear.”

The ADP National Employment Report is published monthly by the ADP Research Institute in close collaboration with Moody’s Analytics and its experienced team of labor market researchers. The ADP National Employment Report provides a monthly snapshot of U.S. nonfarm private sector employment based on actual transactional payroll data.