News Mixed on Private Sector Employment

On May 7, 2021

Private sector employment increased by 742,000 jobs from March to April according to the April ADP National Employment Report. Separately, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is reporting that total nonfarm payroll employment rose by just 266,000 in April. Overall, the national unemployment rate saw little change at 6.1%.

Notable job gains in leisure and hospitality, other services, and local government education were partially offset by employment declines in temporary help services and in couriers and messengers, according to BLS.

Both the unemployment rate, at 6.1%, and the number of unemployed persons, at 9.8 million, were little changed in April, according to BLS. These measures are down considerably from their recent highs in April 2020 but remain well above their levels prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (3.5% and 5.7 million, respectively, in February 2020).

Additionally, BLS says that among the unemployed, the number of persons on temporary layoff, at 2.1 million, changed little in April. This measure is down considerably from the recent high of 18.0 million in April 2020 but is 1.4 million higher than in February 2020. The number of permanent job losers, at 3.5 million, was also little changed over the month but is 2.2 million higher than in February 2020.

ADP Report

“The labor market continues an upward trend of acceleration and growth, posting the strongest reading since September 2020,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “Service providers have the most to gain as the economy reopens, recovers and resumes normal activities and are leading job growth in April. While payrolls are still more than 8 million jobs short of pre-COVID-19 levels, job gains have totaled 1.3 million in the last two months after adding only about 1 million jobs over the course of the previous five months.”

The matched sample used to develop the ADP National Employment Report was derived from ADP payroll data, which represents 460,000 U.S. clients employing nearly 26 million workers in the U.S. The March total of jobs added was revised from 517,000 to 565,000.

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

ADP Data can be seen below:

Total U.S. Nonfarm Private Employment:     742,000

By Company Size

– Small businesses:     235,000

• 1-19 employees     122,000
• 20-49 employees     113,000

– Medium businesses:     230,000

• 50-499 employees     230,000

– Large businesses:     277,000

• 500-999 employees     84,000
• 1,000+ employees     193,000

By Sector

– Goods-producing:     106,000

• Natural resources/mining     10,000
• Construction     41,000
• Manufacturing     55,000

– Service-providing:     636,000

• Trade/transportation/utilities     155,000
• Information     -3,000
• Financial activities     11,000
• Professional/business services     104,000
  – Professional/technical services     27,000
  – Management of companies/enterprises     5,000
  – Administrative/support services     72,000
• Education/health services     92,000
  – Health care/social assistance     76,000
  – Education     16,000
• Leisure/hospitality     237,000
• Other services     40,000

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

– Franchise Employment**

• Franchise jobs     49,600

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

To obtain additional information about the ADP National Employment Report, including additional charts, supporting data and the schedule of future release dates, or to subscribe to the monthly email alerts and RSS feeds, please visit www.adpemploymentreport.com.

The May 2021 ADP National Employment Report will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET on June 3.

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