US private sector hiring slows more than expected in March, ADP says

Private sector hiring in the US slowed last month, the results of a survey revealed.

According to consultancy ADP, businesses in the States added 145,000 staff in March.

That was down from a 261,000 person increase during the previous month and economists' forecasts for a rise of 210,000.

"Our March payroll data is one of several signals that the economy is slowing," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.

"Employers are pulling back from a year of strong hiring and pay growth, after a three-month plateau, is inching down."

Mid-sized firms, which are those with between 50 and 249 staff, generated the most jobs, some 75,000, while those with 250 to 499 employees shed 42,000 workers.

Large firms, or those with more than 500 staff, created 10,000 jobs, while those with 1-19 employees hired 38,000 people and companies with 20-49 workers took on another 63,000.

By sectors, Leisure and Hospitality added 98,000 people to their payrolls, whilst in Financial Activities 51,000 roles were lost and in Professional and Business Services another 46,000.

Companies in the Natural Resources and Mining space on the other hand added 47,000 workers and those in Construction 53,000, but in Manufacturing there were 30,000 fewer employed.

"The series is far too short to determine definitively if the ADP’s methodology is biased to the downside, but the early signs point in that direction," said Kieran Clancy, senior US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"The upshot is that the ADP number ought not to be taken seriously; our forecast for March payrolls—based on the contemporaneous Homebase data and the lagged NFIB hiring intentions index—is 250K, though we expect payroll growth to slow markedly in the second quarter."

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