Private sector employment increased by 140,000 jobs in February and annual pay was up 5.1 percent year-over-year, according to the February ADP National Employment ReportTM produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab (“Stanford Lab”). The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure and high-frequency view of the private-sector labor market based on actual, anonymized payroll data of more than 25 million U.S. employees.
The jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s fine-grained anonymized and aggregated payroll data to provide a representative picture of the private-sector labor market. The report details the current month’s total private employment change, and weekly job data from the previous month. Because the underlying ADP payroll databases are continuously updated, the report provides a high-frequency, near real-time measure of U.S. employment. This measure reflects the number of employees on ADP client payrolls (Payroll Employment) to provide a richer understanding of the labor market. ADP’s pay measure uniquely captures the earnings of a cohort of almost 10 million employees over a 12-month period.
“Job gains remain solid. Pay gains are trending lower but are still above inflation,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “In short, the labor market is dynamic, but doesn’t tip the scales in terms of a Fed rate decision this year.”
JOBS REPORT
Private employers added 140,000 jobs in February
While employment growth remained steady, pay gains for job-changers accelerated for the first time in more than a year, rising to 7.6 percent from 7.2 percent.
Change in U.S. Private Employment: 140,000
Change by Industry Sector
– Goods-producing: 30,000
- Natural resources/mining -4,000
- Construction 28,000
- Manufacturing 6,000
– Service-providing: 110,000
- Trade/transportation/utilities 24,000
- Information -2,000
- Financial activities 17,000
- Professional/business services 5,000
- Education/health services 11,000
- Leisure/hospitality 41,000
- Other services 14,000
Change by U.S. Regions
– Northeast: 20,000
- New England 6,000
- Middle Atlantic 14,000
– Midwest: 39,000
- East North Central 32,000
- West North Central 7,000
– South: 37,000
- South Atlantic 35,000
- East South Central -13,000
- West South Central 15,000
– West: 42,000
- Mountain 7,000
- Pacific 35,000
Change by Establishment Size
– Small establishments: 13,000
- 1-19 employees 11,000
- 20-49 employees 2,000
– Medium establishments: 69,000
- 50-249 employees 53,000
- 250-499 employees 16,000
– Large establishments: 61,000
- 500+ employees 61,000
PAY INSIGHTS
Pay gains for job-changers rose in February
For job-changers, year-over-year pay gains were 7.6 percent, up from the prior month and the first increase since November 2022. Pay gains for job-stayers continued to decelerate, reaching 5.1 percent, the smallest gain since August 2021.
Median Change in Annual Pay (ADP matched person sample)
– Job-Stayers 5.1%
– Job-Changers 7.6%
Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Industry Sector
– Goods-producing:
- Natural resources/mining 4.5%
- Construction 5.5%
- Manufacturing 4.8%
– Service-providing:
- Trade/transportation/utilities 4.6%
- Information 4.8%
- Financial activities 5.5%
- Professional/business services 5.1%
- Education/health services 5.7%
- Leisure/hospitality 5.9%
- Other services 5.5%
Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Firm Size
– Small firms:
- 1-19 employees 4.4%
- 20-49 employees 5.2%
– Medium firms:
- 50-249 employees 5.4%
- 250-499 employees 5.3%
– Large firms:
- 500+ employees 5.1%
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.
