ADP National Employment Report Shows U.S. Employment Declined by 23,000 Private Sector Jobs in February
ROSELAND, New Jersey (March 05, 2008) – According to today’sADP National Employment Report (SM), private sector employment declined by 23,000 in February. The ADP National Employment Report, created by ADP ® Employer Services, a division of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP), in partnership with Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, is based on actual payroll data and measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month.
Nonfarm Private Employment Highlights – February Report:
— Total employment: -23,000
— Small businesses* +15,000
— Medium businesses** -4,000
— Large businesses*** -34,000
— Goods-producing sector: -70,000
— Service-providing sector: +47,000
Addendum:
— Manufacturing industry: -40,000
* Small businesses represent payrolls with 1-49 employees
** Medium businesses represent payrolls with 50-499 employees
*** Large businesses represent payrolls with more than 499 employees
According to Joel Prakken, Chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, “Nonfarm private employment declined 23,000 from January to February 2008 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report. The estimated change in employment from December 2007 to January 2008 was revised down 11,000 to 119,000. February’s decline of 23,000 signals a deceleration of employment growth across businesses of all sizes.”
Prakken added, “Employment in the service-providing sector of the economy grew 47,000, while employment in the goods-producing sector declined 70,000, the fifteenth consecutive monthly decline. Manufacturing employment fell 40,000 in February after declining a revised 3,000 in January, and marked the eighteenth consecutive monthly decline.”
“Most of the decline in employment during February was accounted for by job losses at large companies, but there was a notable deceleration of employment growth at businesses of all sizes. Employment among small-size businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 workers, advanced just 15,000 during the month, while employment among medium-size businesses with between 50 and 499 workers dropped 4,000. This was the first outright decline at medium-size businesses since June of 2003, when job growth was still recovering from the last recession. Employment at large businesses with more than 500 workers declined 34,000,” said Prakken.
Prakken went on to say, “Two sectors of the economy hit hardest by recent problems in mortgage markets have been residential construction and financial activities related to home sales and mortgage lending. In February, construction employment fell 30,000. This is the fifteenth consecutive monthly decline, bringing the total decline in construction jobs since the peak in August 2006 to 236,000. Employment in financial activities declined by 5,000.”
Notice of Annual Revisions to the ADP National Employment Report(TM)
Automatic Data Processing, Inc, in conjunction with Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, has published the scheduled annual revisions to the estimates of employment shown in the ADP National Employment Report.
Revisions include:
* Updated regression estimates used to adjust for historical differences in the variances of the monthly growth rates of employment reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and computed from the ADP data.
* Updated estimates of the differences in the historical averages of the growth rates of employment reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and computed from the ADP data.
* Updated estimates of historical seasonal factors.
* The reference month for establishing the levels of employment shown in the ADP National Employment Report advanced from March of 2006 to March of 2007.
Note: These revisions are published in accordance with the previously stated schedule of annual benchmark revisions to the ADP Report. No revisions have been made to the methodology of computing the estimates of employment shown in the ADP National Employment Report. Visit www.adpemploymentreport.com for details.
The matched sample used to develop the ADP National Employment Report was derived from ADP data which, during the last six months of 2007, averaged approximately 392,000 payrolls representing nearly 24 million U.S. employees. This approximately represents the size of the matched sample used this month.
Small Business Highlights – February Report:
Due to the important contribution small businesses make to economic growth, employment data that is specific to businesses with fewer than 50 employees will be reported in the ADP Small Business Report (SM) each month. The ADP Small Business Report is a subset of the ADP National Employment Report.
* Total small business employment: +15,000
* Goods-producing sector: -20,000 small business jobs
* Service-providing sector: +35,000 small business jobs
Private employment among small businesses increased by 15,000 in February, according to the ADP Small Business Report released today. Additional information about small business employment, including charts on monthly job growth and employment levels, along with historical data, is available at http://www.smallbusinessreport.adp.com.
“Employment among small-size businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 workers, advanced just 15,000 during the month. While this employment growth contrasts with employment declines among medium- and large-size businesses, it is the smallest gain in employment among small-size businesses since November 2002,” said Joel Prakken.
To obtain additional information about the ADP National Employment Report, including additional charts, supporting data and the schedule of future release dates, or to subscribe to the monthly e-mail alerts and RSS feeds, please visit www.ADPemploymentreport.com. The March 2008 ADP NationalEmployment Report will be released on Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at 8:15 a.m. ET.
Source: ADP
