U.S. businesses added jobs at a very modest pace last month as
factories added few new employees, according to a survey of
private-sector hiring released Wednesday.
Private-sector payrolls in the U.S. increased by 139,000 new
jobs in February, says the national employment report compiled by
payroll processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and
forecasting firm Moody's Analytics.
Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal expected ADP to
report a stronger February increase of 160,000 jobs. The January
ADP employment increase was revised down sharply to 127,000 from
175,000 reported a month ago.
"February was another soft month for the job market," the report
said. "Employment was weak across a number of industries."
The ADP estimate is released ahead of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics' employment situation report scheduled for Friday.
Economists expect the BLS report will show a job gain of 152,000
in February, faster than the 113,000 added in January.
Forecasters also expect the February unemployment rate to fall
to 6.5% from January's 6.6%. If so, it would be the lowest jobless
rate since October 2008.
Wednesday's ADP number is unlikely to cause forecasters to
change their nonfarm payroll estimates.
According to ADP, firms employing between 1-49 workers hired
59,000 new workers last month. Medium-sized businesses with
payrolls of 50-499 workers increased payrolls by 35,000 employees.
Large firms, businesses with 500 or more employees, hired 44,000
more workers.
Service-sector payrolls increased by 120,000 slots last month,
but the factory sector added only 1,000 positions.
Construction payrolls increased by 14,000 slots.
ADP also released its annual revisions to its historical data.
The revisions did not change much the seesaw pattern of monthly job
growth last year, although the ultra-large gains at the end of 2013
were scaled back a bit.
In another job-related report, TrimTabs Investment Research
estimated the economy added between 125,000 to 155,000 jobs in
February. TrimTabs' employment estimates are based on an analysis
of daily income-tax deposits to the U.S. Treasury from all salaried
U.S. employees.
ADP, of Roseland, N.J., offers payroll processing, human
resource and benefit adminstration services to about 620,000
clients worldwide. Economics firm Moody's Analytics is a subsidiary
of Moody's Corporation.
Write to Kathleen Madigan at kathleen.madigan@wsj.com
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