Daily News, February 5, 2020
The US added 291,000 non-farm, private-sector jobs in January from December, according to the ADP National Employment Report released today.
The gain exceeded forecasts from economists surveyed by Econoday, who expected an increase of 154,000, MarketWatch reported and was the largest gain since May 2015.
However, December’s previously reported gain of 202,000 jobs was revised slightly downward to 199,000 in today’s report.
“The labor market experienced expanded payrolls in January,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, VP and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Goods producers added jobs, particularly in construction and manufacturing, while service providers experienced a large gain, led by leisure and hospitality.”
The service-providing sector added 237,000 jobs in January, led by the leisure/hospitality segment with 96,000 added jobs, a reversal of the loss of 21,000 jobs posted in the December report. Education/health services notched the second-largest gain for the sector, adding 70,000 jobs in January. Meanwhile, professional/business services added 49,000 jobs.
The goods-producing sector added 54,000 jobs, with construction adding 47,000 jobs and manufacturing gaining 10,000 — more than offsetting the 2,000 jobs lost in the natural resources/mining segment.
By business size, midsize businesses — those with between 50 and 499 employees —added 128,000 jobs in January, while small businesses added 94,000 jobs and large businesses added 69,000 jobs.
“Mild winter weather provided a significant boost to the January employment gain,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “The leisure and hospitality and construction industries, in particular, experienced an outsized increase in jobs. Abstracting from the vagaries of the data underlying job growth is close to 125,000 per month, which is consistent with low and stable unemployment.”
In For Candidates, For EmployersTags Jobsreport, economy, job search, private sector jobs