A “Now Hiring” sign hangs on the door to the Urban Outfitters store at Quincy Market in Boston, Massachusetts September 5, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)
The ADP National Employment report for June finds U.S. private sector job creation “continues to march towards full employment,” with a skills-gap caveat. U.S. nonfarm private sector employment rose by 177,000 on the month, slightly less than the 180,000 consensus.
“The labor market continues to march towards full employment,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Healthcare led job growth once again and trade rebounded nicely.”
Trade added 24,000 and the service-providing sector added 148,000, overall.
Medium-sized businesses with 50 to 499 employees led the gain with 80,000, while small businesses with 1 to 49 employees added 29,000. Large businesses with 500 employees or more added 69,000.
“Business’ number one problem is finding qualified workers,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said. “At the current pace of job growth, if sustained, this problem is set to get much worse. These labor shortages will only intensify across all industries and company sizes.”
That may explain the lighter than average 12,000-job gain in manufacturing for June. Construction added 13,000 and natural resources and mining added 5,000.
