US ADP report undershoots expectations with 212k jobs
The US economy created 212,000 jobs in February, indicating a modest slowdown in pace for jobs growth in the world’s largest economy.
According to data from the ADP National Employment Report, private sector employment in the US increased by 212,000, undershooting economist expectations for 219,000 jobs.
The reading was also slightly below that of January’s print of 212,000 jobs, however ADP on Wednesday revised the January total of jobs added 250,000.
The report, which is derived from ADP's actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis.
Financial markets view the ADP report as a precursor to the monthly US non-farm payrolls report, due this Friday.
"While February's job gains came in slightly lower than recent months, the trend of solid growth above 200,000 jobs per month continued," said Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP.
Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics said that jobs growth is strong, but slowing from the torrid pace of recent months. “Job gains remain broad-based, although the collapse in oil prices has begun to weigh on energy-related employment. At the current pace of growth, the economy will return to full employment by mid-2016,” added Zandi.
Ahead of Friday’s monthly jobs report, economists at Barclays look for payrolls increasing by 250,000 versus consensus at 240,000 and below the last reading of 257,000. “(We expect) the unemployment rate to have fallen to 5.6% (from 5.7%), and average hourly earnings to have risen by 0.2% on the month (from 0.5% on the month),” they added.