Private Employment Grows By 184,000 In March, Tops Expectations: 'Pay Is Heating Up'

The pace of employment growth among U.S. private businesses exceeded expectations in March, signaling ongoing resilience in the job market.

According to the most recent ADP National Employment Report, private employers expanded their workforce by 184,000 new jobs last month, up from 140,000 in February, surpassing the projected 148,000.

The ADP report provides a preview of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ official job data for March, which is set to be released this Friday. Economists’ projections suggest a decrease in non-farm payroll growth, from 275,000 in February to 200,000 in March. It’s expected that the unemployment rate will remain stable at 3.9%, while average hourly earnings are forecasted to grow by 4.1% year-over-year, representing a slowdown compared to the previous rate of 4.3%.

ADP Employment Report: Key Highlights

• Services-providing companies added 142,000 jobs, while goods producers 42,000.
• Industries experiencing notable increases in employment include leisure and hospitality (63,000), construction (33,000), trade, transportation, and utilities (29,000), financial activities (17,000) and education/health services (17,000). Professional and business services was the only industry experiencing a loss of 8,000 jobs.
• Wage growth flattened, with job-stayers seeing a 5.1% pay increase, which was the rate recorded in February, while job changers experienced a 10% increase, up from the 7.6% in February.
• Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said,”March was surprising not just for the pay gains, but the sectors that recorded them. The three biggest increases for job-changers were in construction, financial services, and manufacturing. Inflation has been cooling, but our data shows pay is heating up in both goods and services.”

Market Reaction

The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), as tracked by the Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF UUP, inched higher following the release. Treasury yields were up by about 4 basis points.

Futures on U.S. equity indices fell during the premarket trading Wednesday, following the drops seen Tuesday. Contracts on the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 were down by 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively, by 8:35 a.m. ET.

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