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ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 204,000 Jobs in April

Staff Report

Wednesday, May 9th, 2018

Private sector employment increased by 204,000 jobs from March to April according to the April ADP National Employment Report.  Broadly distributed to the public each month, free of charge, the ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Moody's Analytics.  The report, which is derived from ADP's actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis.  

April 2018 Report Highlights

Total U.S. Nonfarm Private Employment:     204,000

By Company Size

  • Small businesses:     62,000

    • 1-19 employees     31,000

    • 20-49 employees     31,000

  • Medium businesses:     88,000

    • 50-499 employees     88,000

  • Large businesses:    54,000

    • 500-999 employees     12,000

    • 1,000+ employees     42,000

By Sector

  • Goods-producing:     44,000

    • Natural resources/mining     7,000

    • Construction     27,000

    • Manufacturing     10,000

  • Service-providing:     160,000

    • Trade/transportation/utilities      14,000

    • Information     -2,000

    • Financial activities     7,000

    • Professional/business services     58,000

      • Professional/technical services     34,000

      • Management of companies/enterprises     5,000

      • Administrative/support services     20,000

    • Education/health services      39,000

      • Health care/social assistance     35,000

      • Education     4,000

    • Leisure/hospitality     36,000

    • Other services     8,000

  • Franchise Employment

    • Franchise jobs     -10,600

"The labor market continues to maintain a steady pace of strong job growth with little sign of a slowdown," said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. "However, as the labor pool tightens it will become increasingly difficult for employers to find skilled talent.  Job gains in the high-skilled professional and business services industry accounted for more than half of all jobs added this month.  The construction industry, which also relies on skilled labor, continued its six month trend of steady job gains as well."

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said, "Despite rising trade tensions, more volatile financial markets, and poor weather, businesses are adding a robust more than 200,000 jobs per month. At this pace, unemployment will soon be in the threes, which is rarified and risky territory, as the economy threatens to overheat." 

The matched sample used to develop the ADP National Employment Report was derived from ADP payroll data, which represents 411,000 U.S. clients employing nearly 24 million workers in the U.S. The March total of jobs added was revised down from 241,000 to 228,000.