The employment
report issued by Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and Moody's Analytics revealed
that U.S. private employers added 152,000 jobs in May. This was the lowest
number since January (+111,000).
Economists had expected
an addition of 175,000 new jobs for May.
Meanwhile, the April
figure saw a downward
revision to 188,000 from the originally reported 192,000.
According to
the report, the May job increase was led by trade, transportation and utilities
(+55,000), education and health services (+46,000), and construction (+32,000).
At the same time, manufacturing (-20,000), natural resources and mining (-9,000),
information (-7,000), and professional and business services (-6,000) shed jobs
last month.
The report also
revealed that pay growth for job-changers decelerated last month, dropping from
8.0 per cent y-o-y in April to 7.8 per cent y-o-y. Meanwhile, pay growth for
job-stayers held
steady for the third straight month at 5 per cent y-o-y.
Commenting on
the latest report, Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, noted that job gains
and pay growth are slowing going into the second half of 2024. “The
labour market is solid, but we're monitoring notable pockets of weakness tied to
both producers and consumers,” she added.