ADP: U.S. Private Sector Adds 275K Jobs in April

Total Number of Jobs for March Revised Higher By 22K

The ADP National Employment Report finds the U.S. private sector created 275,000 jobs in April, crushing the consensus forecast and range. The total number of jobs added in March was revised up from 129,000 to 151,000.

“April posted an uptick in growth after the first quarter appeared to signal a moderation following a strong 2018,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “The bulk of the overall growth is with service providers, adding the strongest gain in more than two years.”

The lower-paying service-providing sector added a whopping 223,000 of the total jobs created in the private sector for the month. Franchise jobs added 9,500.

Still, the goods-producing sector added a solid 52,000 in April, including 49,000 in construction and 5,000 in manufacturing. Natural resources and mining was -2,000.

“The job market is holding firm, as businesses work hard to fill open positions,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said. “The economic soft patch at the start of the year has not materially impacted hiring.”

“”April’s job gains overstate the economy’s strength, but they make the case that expansion continues on.”

Small businesses with 1 to 49 employees added 77,000 jobs, medium-sized businesses (49 to 499) added 145,000, while large-sized businesses with 500 or more employees added 53,000.

Worth noting, the ADP Research Institute Workforce Vitality Report (WVR) was released on April 24, and found wages for U.S. workers grew 3.8% over the last year, increasing the average wage level by $1.04 to $28.40 an hour.

That is a solid gain driven by wage increases for U.S. workers in the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing represents 10% of the workforce and saw a 3.9% wage increase to a $29.55 average hourly wage.

Trade, which represents 22% of the workforce saw 4.9% wage growth to a $25.27 average hourly wage.

ADP National Employment Report Methodology

The matched sample for the ADP National Employment Report was sourced from their payroll data, which represents 411,000 U.S. clients employing nearly 24 million workers in the U.S. The data for this report is collected for pay periods that can be interpolated to include the week of the 12^th of each month, and processed with statistical methodologies similar to those used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to compute employment from its monthly survey of establishments.