Feb. 2, 2011, 9:05 a.m. EST
U.S. private-sector payrolls up 187,000: ADP
Source: Market Watch
By Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Private-sector employment rose in January, and “strength was evident” in all major industries and sizes of business, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc.’s employment report released Wednesday.
The ADP report showed that private-sector employment rose 187,000, with the service-producing sector gaining 166,000 and the goods-producing sector increasing 21,000.
Employment rose 97,000 at small businesses, 79,000 at medium businesses and 11,000 at large businesses.
For December, ADP reported that private payrolls gained 247,000, compared with a prior estimate of 297,000.
“According to this measure, employment is accelerating and while January’s addition is less than December’s, we remain of the belief that employment gains will continue over the course of the year,” wrote Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist with Miller Tabak, in a research note.
On Friday, the government will report on January’s nonfarm payrolls, which also include government workers. Economists polled by MarketWatch are looking for a gain of 140,000, and for the unemployment rate to rise to 9.5%. See economic calendar. For December, the government reported that nonfarm payrolls gained 103,000, while the unemployment rate fell to 9.4%.
The ADP report echoes other recent positive jobs data. On Tuesday, the Institute for Supply Management reported that a gauge of manufacturing employment rose in January. Read more about manufacturing.
Elsewhere Wednesday, outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that employers announced plans to cut almost 39,000 jobs in January, down from about 71,000 job cuts a year earlier.
Ruth Mantell is a MarketWatch reporter based in Washington.
