U.S. ADP Nonfarm Private Payroll Growth Slows Sharply in April
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Overall gain is weaker than expected.
- Small business hiring declines.
- Slowdown is broad-based amongst industries.
The job market weakened last month, according to the ADP National Employment Report. It indicated that nonfarm private sector payrolls increased 247,000 during April (5.0% y/y) after rising 479,000 in March, revised from 455,000 reported initially. A 373,000 April rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.
Small-sized payrolls fell 120,000, the second decline in the last three months. It followed an unrevised 90,000 March increase. Large-sized payrolls strengthened 321,000 in April (5.8% y/y) after a 197,000 March gain, revised from 177,000. Medium-sized payrolls increased 46,000 (5.9% y/y) after rising 192,000 in March, revised from 188,000.
Within industry sectors, private services employment rose 202,000 last month (5.2% y/y) after increasing 392,000 during March, revised from 377,000. Leisure & hospitality jobs increased 77,000 (16.1% y/y) after gaining 169,000 in March. It was the weakest rise since December 2020.The number of education & health services jobs rose 48,000 (3.3% y/y) after a 71,000 March increase. Professional & business services jobs increased 50,000 (4.2% y/y) following a 64,000 rise. The number of trade, transportation & utilities jobs grew 15,000 in April (3.3% y/y) after a 54,000 March rise. Employment in financial services rose 8,000 in April (1.8% y/y) after rising 12,000 in March. The number of information sector jobs declined 2,000 (+3.0% y/y) in April after holding steady in the prior month.
Employment in the goods-producing sector improved 46,000 in April (4.4% y/y) following an 87,000 increase. The number of factory sector jobs rose 25,000 (3.6% y/y) following a 53,000 March gain. Construction sector payrolls rose 16,000 (5.2% y/y) after gaining 27,000 in March. Employment in the natural resource & mining sector improved 4,000 (9.3% y/y) after a 7,000 increase.
The Automatic Data Processing Research Institute survey covers 411,000 companies and includes about one-fifth of U.S. private payroll employment. The data are processed by Moody's Analytics Inc., then calibrated and aligned with the BLS establishment survey data. The ADP data cover private sector employment only.
The ADP National Employment Report data can be found in Haver's USECON database. Historical figures date back to 2001 for private employment and the industry breakdown, and 2005 for the business size breakout. The expectation figure is available in Haver's AS1REPNA database.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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