UPDATE: U.S. Private-Sector Employment Increased by 38,000 Jobs in May, According to ADP Report

Private-sector employment increased by 38,000 from April to May on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report® released today. The ADP National Employment Report, created by Automatic Data Processing, Inc. ADP, in partnership with Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, is derived from actual payroll data and measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month. According to the ADP Report, employment in the service-providing sector rose by 48,000 in May, marking 17 consecutive months of employment gains. Employment in the goods-producing sector fell 10,000 following six months of increases. Manufacturing employment fell 9,000 in May following seven consecutive monthly gains. "Although we continue to see jobs being added to the economy, this month's job figures show that employers believe we are not out of the woods yet when it comes to decisions on hiring," said Gary C. Butler, President and Chief Executive Officer of ADP. According to Joel Prakken, Chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, "Today's ADP National Employment Report suggests that employment growth slowed sharply in May. Employment in the nonfarm private-business sector rose 38,000 from April to May on a seasonally adjusted basis." Prakken added, "A deceleration in employment, while disappointing, is not entirely surprising. In the first quarter, GDP grew at only a 1.8% rate and only about 2 1/4% over the last four quarters. This is below most economists' estimate of the economy's potential growth rate and normally would be associated with very weak growth of employment." The matched sample used to develop the ADP National Employment Report was derived from ADP data, which, during the twelve-month period through June 2010, averaged over 340,000 U.S. business clients and represented over 21 million U.S. employees. This approximately represents the size of the matched sample used this month.