(Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC)
Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
reported this morning that the economy generated 216,000 private-sector jobs in February, well up from the revised 173,000 the firm reported for January, and above consensus expectations of 208,000. The monthly report by the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which surveys changes in both private- and public-sector jobs, will be released Friday.
ADP processes over 500,000 payrolls for some 430,000 separate businesses, covering more than 23 million employees nationwide. It is from those data that the jobs report is gleaned by Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC.
Every month, two days before the BLS releases its report, ADP releases its own. While the up or down trend of both reports usually meshes, analysts frequently point to the disparity in the actual count between the two. Indeed, over the past six years, that disparity has averaged 122,000 jobs for December, and it averages 75,000 across all months. So, the analysts say, ADP's report must be taken with a grain of salt. However, the ADP and BLS reports for Februarys since 2006 have exhibited the least disparity, averaging a difference of just 25,000 jobs between the two.
If that average holds, then Wednesday's ADP report is a good omen for Friday's BLS report.
By ADP's calculations:
Employment in the private, service-providing sector rose 170,000 in February, and employment in the private, goods-producing sector increased 46,000 in February. Manufacturing employment increased 21,000. Employment on large payrolls—those with 500 or more workers—increased 20,000, and employment on medium payrolls—those with 50 to 499 workers—rose 88,000 in February. Employment on small payrolls—those with up to 49 workers—rose 108,000 that same period.
Of the 108,000 jobs created by small businesses, 18,000 jobs were created by the goods-producing sector and 90,000 jobs were created by the service-producing sector.
Employment in the construction industry grew by 16,000 in February.