Private sector employment increased by 145,000 jobs in March and annual pay was up 6.9 percent year-over-year, according to the March ADP® National Employment Report™ produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab (“Stanford Lab”).
The jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s fine-grained anonymized and aggregated payroll data of over 25 million U.S. employees to provide a representative picture of the labor market. The report details the current month’s total private employment change, and weekly job data from the previous month. ADP’s pay measure uniquely captures the earnings of a cohort of almost 10 million employees over a 12-month period.
“Our March payroll data is one of several signals that the economy is slowing,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “Employers are pulling back from a year of strong hiring and pay growth, after a three-month plateau, is inching down.”
March 2023 Report Highlights
Private employers added 145,000 jobs in March
The job market is beginning to find its balance as consumer demand ebbs and the cost of borrowing goes up.
Change in U.S. Private Employment: 145,000
Change by Industry Sector
– Goods-producing: 70,000
Natural resources/mining 47,000
Construction 53,000
Manufacturing -30,000
– Service-providing: 75,000
Trade/transportation/utilities 56,000
Information -7,000
Financial activities -51,000
Professional/business services -46,000
Education/health services 17,000
Leisure/hospitality 98,000
Other services 8,000
Change by U.S. Regions
– Northeast: 141,000
New England 41,000
Middle Atlantic 100,000
– Midwest: 132,000
East North Central 84,000
West North Central 48,000
– South: -228,000
South Atlantic -60,000
East South Central -87,000
West South Central -81,000
– West: 95,000
Mountain -5,000
Pacific 100,000
Change by Establishment Size
– Small establishments: 101,000
1-19 employees 38,000
20-49 employees 63,000
– Medium establishments: 33,000
50-249 employees 75,000
250-499 employees -42,000
– Large establishments: 10,000
500+ employees 10,000
Pay Insights
Pay growth decelerated for both job stayers and job changers. For job stayers, year-over-year gains fell to 6.9 percent from 7.2 percent in February. Pay growth for job changers was 14.2 percent, down from 14.4 percent.
Median Change in Annual Pay (ADP matched person sample)
– Job-Stayers 6.9%
– Job-Changers 14.2%
Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Industry Sector
– Goods-producing:
Natural resources/mining 7.3%
Construction 7.0%
Manufacturing 6.5%
– Service-providing:
Trade/transportation/utilities 7.0%
Information 6.3%
Financial activities 6.8%
Professional/business services 6.4%
Education/health services 7.2%
Leisure/hospitality 9.6%
Other services 6.6%
Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Firm Size
– Small firms:
1-19 employees 5.5%
20-49 employees 6.9%
– Medium firms:
50-249 employees 7.2%
250-499 employees 7.1%
– Large firms:
500+ employees 7.0%
To see Pay Insights by U.S. State, Gender, and Age for Job-Stayers, visit here:
* Sum of components may not equal total, due to rounding.
The February total of jobs added was revised from 242,000 to 261,000.
