Private Sector Employment up 8,000 in March

The U.S. added 8,000 jobs in the private sector in March, according to a report by payroll giant ADP.

The report represented a turnaround from February, when ADP reported a decline of 23,000 jobs (see Private Sector Loses 23,000 Jobs). The company has since revised that figure upward by 5,000, making the net loss 18,000. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which generally issues its reports two days after ADP, reported a loss of 63,000 jobs in non-farm payroll employment in February, but the BLS figures include public-sector employees.

For March, ADP reported that the biggest increase again came from small businesses, with payrolls of between one and 49 employees, which added 55,000 jobs. Midsized businesses, with payrolls of between 50 and 499 employees, added 5,000 jobs. Large businesses with 500 employees or more, however, lost 52,000 jobs.

The service-producing sector gained 85,000 jobs in March, but the goods-producing sector lost 77,000 jobs, the sixteenth consecutive monthly decline, according to Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, which compiled the report with ADP. The manufacturing industry, meanwhile, lost 58,000 jobs, the nineteenth consecutive monthly decline.

In March, construction employment fell by 22,000, the sixteenth consecutive monthly decline, marking a total decline of 259,000 construction jobs since its peak in August 2006. Employment in financial activities for March was flat.