ADP: Employers Add 517,000 Jobs in March

Ahead of this morning’s initial claims report from the Labor Department and Friday’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ADP, Roseland, N.J., said private-sector employment jumped by 517,000 jobs from February to March.

The ADP National Employment Report said by company size, small businesses (1-49 employees) added 174,000 workers; medium businesses (50-499) added 188,000; and large businesses added 155,000.

By sector, goods-producing businesses added 80,000 workers; service-providing businesses added 437,000; and professional/technical services added 27,000.

“We saw marked improvement in March’s labor market data, reporting the strongest gain since September 2020,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist with ADP. “Job growth in the service sector significantly outpaced its recent monthly average, led with notable increase by the leisure and hospitality industry. This sector has the most opportunity to improve as the economy continues to gradually reopen and the vaccine is made more widely available. We are continuing to keep a close watch on the hardest hit sectors but the groundwork is being laid for a further boost in the monthly pace of hiring in the months ahead.”

The Initial Claims report comes out this morning at 8:30 a.m. ET; the BLS employment report comes out at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday. Mortgage Bankers Association Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni will provide commentary in MBA NewsLink.