WASHINGTON — U.S. private employers added 122,000 jobs in May, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report, indicating continued hiring across most sectors of the economy ahead of the summer employment season.
The report, released by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, showed that private-sector payrolls increased by 122,000 positions in May after a downwardly revised gain of 105,000 jobs in April. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected an increase of about 117,000 jobs.
ADP said hiring gains were broadly distributed across industries and company sizes. Service-providing sectors accounted for most of the growth, while goods-producing industries recorded a smaller increase. Education and health services led hiring, followed by trade, transportation and utilities, according to the report.
“Hiring was more broad-based in May than we've seen in the last few years,” ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said in a statement. “The labor market continues to show sustained momentum going into the summer hiring season.”
ADP reported that annual pay growth for workers who remained in their jobs was 4.4% from a year earlier, unchanged from the previous month. The report is based on anonymized payroll data covering more than 26 million private-sector employees in the United States.
Among business sizes, smaller employers accounted for a substantial share of job creation, while medium-sized and large companies also posted gains. Eight of the 10 major industry groups tracked by ADP recorded employment increases during the month.
The ADP figures were released ahead of the U.S. Labor Department’s monthly employment report, which provides a broader measure of labor-market conditions by including government payrolls as well as private-sector employment. Economists noted that the ADP report and the government’s nonfarm payrolls data do not always move in tandem because they are compiled using different methodologies.
Separate government data released later showed stronger overall job growth in May, with nonfarm payroll employment increasing by about 172,000 positions while the unemployment rate remained at 4.3%, according to published labor statistics.
Financial markets and policymakers have continued to monitor labor-market indicators as the Federal Reserve evaluates economic conditions and inflation trends. Officials have repeatedly said employment data remain an important factor in assessing the outlook for the U.S. economy.
As of mid-June, the ADP report remained one of the latest private-sector snapshots of U.S. hiring activity, showing continued employment growth across much of the economy.
