In what will hardly be a good sign for tomorrow's "critical" non-farm payrolls report, moments ago ADP reported that in August only 204K private payrolls were created in the US economy, below the downward revised 212K in July, and below the consensus estimate of 220K. The good news, as Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP said, is that "August marks the fifth straight month of employment gains above 200,000, continuing an encouraging trend for the U.S. labor market.” Just barely. The bad news: this was the lowest ADP print since March, and hardly the "lift off" trend that many were expecting. Notably, the June 281K jobs print was revised even higher to 297K the highest in years and makes one wonder how much forward demand was pulled back into Q2 as a result of abnormally easy credit conditions and generous government spending.
Some of the key details:
Change in Nonfarm Private Employment (in thousands)
The breakdown:
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Payrolls for businesses with 49 or fewer employees increased by 78,000 jobs in August. That’s down from 89,000 in July. Job growth was also down over the month for medium-sized firms. Employment among medium-sized companies with 50-499 employees rose by 75,000, down from 88,000 in July. Employment at large companies – those with 500 or more employees – increased by 52,000, up from 35,000 the previous month. Companies with 500-999 employees added 5,000, down from July’s 13,000.
From the report:
Goods-producing employment rose by 41,000 jobs in August, up from 23,000 jobs gained in July. The construction industry added 15,000 jobs over the month, slightly above last month’s gain. Meanwhile, manufacturing added 23,000 jobs in August, the highest total in that sector since December 2012.
Service-providing employment rose by 164,000 jobs in August, down from 190,000 in July. The ADP National Employment Report indicates that professional/ business services contributed 51,000 jobs in August, down from 60,000 in July. Expansion in trade/transportation/utilities grew by 28,000, down from July’s 43,000. The 5,000 new jobs added in financial activities was down almost half from last month’s number.
Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, "Steady as she goes in the job market. Businesses continue to hire at a solid pace. Job gains are broad based across industries and company sizes. At the current pace of job growth the economy will return to full employment by the end of 2016.”
And at the end of 2016, assuming the current contraction of the labor force, unemployment will also be negative.
Some other charts:
Historical Trend - Change in Total Nonfarm Private Employment
Total Nonfarm Private Employment by Company Size
Change in Total Nonfarm Private Employment by Selected Industry
Finally, while ADP has zero predictive capacity to the actual NFP number, and is thus worthless, its greatest value added comes in creating infographics. Like this one.
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