Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 129,000 Jobs in March

Private sector employment increased by 129,000 jobs from February to March according to the March ADP National Employment Report^®.  Broadly distributed to the public each month, free of charge, the ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute^® in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics.  The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis.  

March 2019 Report Highlights*

View the ADP National Employment Report Infographic at www.adpemploymentreport.com.

Total U.S. Nonfarm Private Employment:     129,000

By Company Size

– Small businesses:     6,000

• 1-19 employees     -9,000
• 20-49 employees     14,000

– Medium businesses:     63,000

• 50-499 employees     63,000

– Large businesses:     60,000

• 500-999 employees     15,000
• 1,000+ employees     45,000

By Sector

– Goods-producing:     -6,000

• Natural resources/mining     2,000
• Construction     -6,000
• Manufacturing     -2,000

– Service-providing:     135,000

• Trade/transportation/utilities     9,000
• Information     11,000
• Financial activities     -1,000
• Professional/business services     41,000   – Professional/technical services     11,000   – Management of companies/enterprises     7,000   – Administrative/support services     22,000
• Education/health services     56,000   – Health care/social assistance     42,000   – Education     14,000
• Leisure/hospitality     13,000
• Other services     6,000

* Sum of components may not equal total, due to rounding.

– Franchise Employment**

• Franchise jobs     4,000

**Complete details on franchise employment can be found here.

“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.”

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “The job market is weakening, with employment gains slowing significantly across most industries and company sizes. Businesses are hiring cautiously as the economy is struggling with fading fiscal stimulus, the trade uncertainty, and the lagged impact of Fed tightening. If employment growth weakens much further, unemployment will begin to rise.”

The matched sample used to develop 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. The February total of jobs added was revised up from 183,000 to 197,000.