Private-sector employment is up by about 130,000 jobs this month, according to Roseland-based ADP.
The payroll and human services company said in its monthly ADP National Employment Report that the number of jobs grew by 129,000 positions from February to March.
“March posted the slowest employment increase in 18 months,” Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said. “Although some service sectors showed continued strength, we saw weakness in the goods producing sector.”
Medium-sized businesses with 50 to 499 employees dominated the month, adding 63,000 new jobs. Large-sized businesses with 500 or more employees added 60,000 new roles, while small-sized businesses with fewer than 49 employees added 6,000.
“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,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said.
In the top sectors, according to ADP, those in the service-producing industry were ahead, adding 135,000 jobs compared with a loss of 6,000 in the goods-producing industry.
Under the service-producing sector, education and health services added the most roles, reporting 56,000 new positions; professional and business services added 41,000; leisure and hospitality added 13,000; information added 11,000; trade/transportation/utilities added 9,000; and other services added 6,000. The only subset to lose jobs was in financial activities, down 1,000 new roles.
Under the goods-producing sector, natural resources and mining brought in the most jobs, reporting 2,000 new roles, while construction lost 6,000 and manufacturing lost 2,000.
