Despite a slowdown in job growth, private sector employment increased by 183,000 jobs from January to February, according to a report by ADP and Moody”™s Analytics released this morning.
The January total of jobs added was revised up from 213,000 to 300,000. The figures used to create the ADP National Employment Report was derived from ADP payroll data, which represents 411,000 U.S. clients employing nearly 24 million workers in the U.S.
Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody”™s Analytics, said, “The economy has throttled back and so too has job growth. The job slowdown is clearest in the retail and travel industries, and at smaller companies. Job gains are still strong, but they have likely seen their high watermark for this expansion.”
Medium size businesses with 50 to 499 employees added 95,000 to their payrolls.
Small businesses with 1 to 19 employees saw a loss of 8,000, while those with 20 to 49 workers saw 20,000 added to their payrolls. Also seeing a drop in jobs was education with a loss of 2,000.
“We saw a modest slowdown in job growth this month,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Midsize companies have been the strongest performer for the past year. There was a sharp decline in small business growth as these firms continue to struggle with offering competitive wages and benefits.”
Large businesses grew by 77,000 workers. Construction jobs were up 25,000, manufacturing 17,00 and natural resources/mining was up 3,000.
The U.S. unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points in January to 4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of people unemployed in the nation is 6.5 million.
