--ADP says 198,000 private sector jobs added in February
--Current job growth pace should bring down unemployment
rate
--Construction payrolls now a source of job growth, not
layoffs
(Update adds details from the report and comment from Moody's
Analytics chief economist beginning in the fourth paragraph.)
By Kathleen Madigan
Private businesses added new employees in February at a faster
pace than economists expected, according to a tally of
private-sector hiring released Wednesday. Two other job estimates
were less optimistic for the month's hiring.
Private-sector jobs in the U.S. increased by 198,000 last month,
according to a national employment report calculated by payroll
processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and forecasting firm
Moody's Analytics.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected ADP to
report a smaller gain of 175,000 private jobs.
ADP also released revisions to its historical data. The new
numbers slightly lowered 2012 hiring, although November and
December gains were revised higher. The January job gain was
revised up to 215,000 from 192,000 reported a month ago.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics that compiles
the ADP data, said the report was "solid," with broad-based gains
across industries, firm size and regions. He said the current pace
of hiring is strong enough to bring down the unemployment rate.
According to ADP, companies employing between one and 49 workers
increased jobs by 77,000 in February. Medium-sized businesses with
payrolls of 50 to 499 workers hired 65,000 new employees. Large
firms, businesses with 500 or more employees, added 57,000
positions.
Service-sector jobs increased by 164,000 in February, and
factory jobs filled 9,000 positions.
Construction payrolls increased by 21,000 last month. Mr. Zandi
said the construction sector, which has been a drag on overall
payrolls, is "now a source of sizeable, consistent growth."
The ADP report comes out two days ahead of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics' employment situation report.
The BLS report counts private and government payroll slots. The
median forecast of economists expects February payrolls increased
160,000. Although the ADP report beats expectations, most
economists are sticking with their forecasts. That's because ADP
has posted big misses to the BLS job count in the past.
ADP, of Roseland, N.J., offers payroll processing, human
resource and benefit administration services to about 600,000
clients worldwide. Economics firm Moody's Analytics is a subsidiary
of Moody's Corp. (MCO).
Two other job-related releases estimate much smaller job gains
for February.
On Wednesday, TrimTabs Investment Research projected only
100,000 jobs were added in February. TrimTabs analyzes daily
income-tax deposits to the U.S. Treasury to calculate its job
estimate.
On Monday, employment site Bright.com said it estimated a
"sluggish" 131,000 jobs were added last month. Bright analyzes its
own aggregated job postings and resumes along with government,
financial, real estate, and other data sources to estimate
payrolls.
Write to Kathleen Madigan at kathleen.madigan@dowjones.com