US private employers added 62,000 roles in March in a steady gain from the month prior, according to the payroll processor ADP.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected an increase of 40,000 jobs after February posted the best monthly gain since July, with a revised boost of 66,000 positions.
March’s better-than-expected payroll growth was driven by small businesses as well as education and health services providers, ADP said, while sectors like manufacturing shed positions. Hiring in trade, transportation, and utilities also continued to slide.
“Overall hiring is steady, but job growth continues to favor certain industries, including health care,” ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said in a statement.
Much of that growth in healthcare stems from low-paying positions, such as home health aides.
Still, overall pay growth for both job-stayers and job-changers remains solid, ADP noted, with pay growth for those switching jobs accelerating by 6.6% in March from a year ago.
Other risks to the labor market abound, though. The US-Israel war on Iran could make already-cautious businesses more reluctant to add staff, while a pullback in the healthcare sector could dampen what job growth exists in the US economy.
Recent government data has so far painted a bleak picture of this year’s labor market: February’s hiring rate was the lowest since April 2020, while that month also shed 92,000 jobs and saw the unemployment rate tick up to 4.4%.
The Chicago Fed anticipates the jobless rate again rose a hair in March to hit 4.5%, though official data from the Labor Department won’t be out until Friday morning.
Emma Ockerman is a reporter covering the economy and labor for Yahoo Finance. You can reach her at emma.ockerman@yahooinc.com.
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