ADP Says Companies Added 212,000 Workers to Payrolls
Companies in the U.S. added more than 200,000 workers to payrolls in February, indicating the labor market remains on its strong trajectory, according to a private employment report.
The 212,000 increase followed a 250,000 January gain that was larger than initially reported, figures from Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Research Institute showed March 4. The median projection of 46 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for an advance of 219,000.
Broad-based strengthening in the labor market supports consumer spending and the economy, even as the slump in fuel costs prices limits hiring in the energy industry. A Labor Department report on March 6 is projected to show the world’s largest economy added 235,000 jobs last month.
“Job growth is strong, but slowing from the torrid pace of recent months,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said in a statement. Moody’s produces the figures with ADP. “Job gains remain broad-based, although the collapse in oil prices has begun to weight on energy-related employment.”
Estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from gains of 119,000 to 255,000. The January reading was revised from a previously reported advance of 213,000.
With the report, ADP issued annual revisions that better align their data with the Labor Department’s employment figures.
Goods-producing industries, which include manufacturers and builders, boosted headcounts by 31,000 last month, the ADP report showed. Hiring in construction increased by 31,000 jobs, while factories added 3,000. Service providers increased staff by 181,000.
Companies with 500 or more employees added 56,000 jobs. Medium-sized businesses, employing 50 to 499 workers, increased headcount by 63,000, while small company payrolls rose 94,000.
The ADP report is based on data from businesses with almost 24 million workers on their combined payrolls.
The February jobs report that’s due from the Labor Department on March 6 may show the unemployment rate fell to 5.6 % last month, matching a more than six-year low, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
The strength in the labor market may be helping oil services employees find work in other sectors, like trucking, which faces a 35,000 shortage of long-haul drivers.
The global oil industry has cut more than $40 billion in spending and announced 50,000 or more job cuts to cope with oil prices that sank below $50 for most of January. Halliburton Co., the world’s largest provider of hydraulic fracturing services, said Feb. 10 it’s cutting as much as 8 % of its global workforce of more than 80,000.
“As activity in North America begins to fall more sharply, we will make similar adjustments here as well,” Jeff Miller, the Houston, Texas-based company’s president told analysts and investors on a Jan. 20 conference call. “Between actions already taken in the fourth quarter and actions we anticipate taking by the end of the first quarter, we expect our head count adjustments to be in line with our primary competitors.”
Likewise, Schlumberger Ltd. announced cuts of 9,000 jobs and Baker Hughes Inc. reduced 7,000 global positions.
