Private sector employment rose in February, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report. New data released last week shows an increase in private sector jobs of 77,000 while annual pay increased by 4.7 percent, year over year.
The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure and high-frequency view of the private-sector labor market based on actual, anonymized payroll data of more than 25 million U.S. employees.
“Policy uncertainty and a slowdown in consumer spending might have led to layoffs or a slowdown in hiring last month,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “Our data, combined with other recent indicators, suggests a hiring hesitancy among employers as they assess the economic climate ahead.”
Hiring has slowed to the smallest level of gains since July, according to the report, with trade and transportation, health care, education and information showing job losses.
Job losses were felt in the natural resources and mining sector, which shrunk by 2,000 jobs, while the construction industry saw an increase of 26,000. Manufacturing meanwhile increased by 18,000 jobs.
Decreases were experienced in the trade, transportation and utilities industries, which saw a loss of 33,000 jobs. The information sector also saw a loss of jobs by 14,000.
Regionally, the Northeast saw a job increase of 55,000, while the Midwest rose by 56,000. Meanwhile, the South saw a decrease in jobs of more than 12,000 and the West saw a decline of 27,000.
For job changers, year-over-year pay gains slowed slightly, from 6.8 percent in January to 6.7 percent. Pay gains for job-stayers were flat at 4.7 percent, while job changers saw pay gains of 6.7 percent.
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