U.S. Private Sector Employment Rises Much Less Than Expected In March
03 April 2019 - 7:27PM
RTTF2
Payroll processor ADP released a report on Wednesday showing
much weaker than expected private sector job growth in the month of
March.
ADP said private sector employment rose by 129,000 jobs in March
after jumping by an upwardly revised 197,000 jobs in February.
Economists had expected employment to increase by 170,000 jobs
compared to the addition of 183,000 jobs originally reported for
the previous month.
"March posted the slowest employment increase in 18 months,"
said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research
Institute. "Although some service sectors showed continued
strength, we saw weakness in the goods producing sector."
The report said employment in the service-providing sector
increased by 135,000 jobs, while employment in the goods-producing
sector fell by 6,000 jobs.
While employment at mid-sized and large businesses rose by
63,000 jobs and 60,000 jobs, respectively, employment at small
businesses edged up by 6,000 jobs.
"The job market is weakening, with employment gains slowing
significantly across most industries and company sizes," said Mark
Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics.
"Businesses are hiring cautiously as the economy is struggling
with fading fiscal stimulus, the trade uncertainty, and the lagged
impact of Fed tightening," he added. "If employment growth weakens
much further, unemployment will begin to rise."
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more
closely watched monthly employment report, which includes both
public and private sector jobs,
Employment is expected to jump by 180,000 jobs in March after
inching up by just 20,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment
rate is expected to hold at 3.8 percent.
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