The employment
report published by Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and Moody's Analytics on
Wednesday revealed that U.S. private employers added 62,000 jobs in April. This was the lowest reading since July 2024
(+42,000).
Economists had forecast
an addition of 115,000 new jobs in April.
Meanwhile, the March
figure saw a downward
revision to 147,000 from the originally reported 155,000.
According to
the report, the April job advance
was underpinned by higher hiring in leisure and hospitality (+27,000), trade, transportation
and utilities (+21,000), financial activities (+20,000), construction (+16,000),
natural resources and mining (+6,000) and manufacturing (+4,000). At the same
time, education and health services (-23,000), information (-8,000), professional
and business services (-2,000), and other services (-1,000) shed jobs last month.
The report also
showed that pay increases were steady in April. Pay growth
for job-stayers was 4.5 per cent y-o-y, slightly down from 4.6 per cent
y-o-y in the previous month. Meanwhile, pay growth for job-changers was 6.9 per
cent y-o-y, up from 6.7 per cent
y-o-y in March.
Commenting on
the latest data, Nela Richardson, Chief Economist at ADP, noted that employers
are trying to reconcile policy and consumer uncertainty with a run of mostly
positive economic data. “It can be difficult to make hiring decisions in such
an environment,” she added.