Overview
- Job gains were narrowly concentrated, with education and health services up 58,000 and construction up 19,000, while professional and business services fell by 30,000.
- Small establishments drove the increase with 60,000 additions, contrasted with a 7,000 decline at medium-sized firms and a 10,000 gain at large employers.
- Pay for job-stayers held at 4.5% year over year, and job-changers saw 6.3% growth, marking the smallest switching advantage on ADP’s records.
- ADP revised January’s estimate down to 11,000 from 22,000, reinforcing a pattern of weaker early-year readings.
- The private-payrolls snapshot precedes the government’s broader report, which forecasters expect to show roughly 50,000–60,000 jobs and a 4.3% unemployment rate, and ADP’s series has often diverged from the BLS measure.