ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 242,000 Jobs in February; Annual Pay was Up 7.2%
ROSELAND, N.J., March 8, 2023: Private sector employment increased by 242,000 jobs in February and annual pay was up 7.2 percent year-over-year, according to the February ADP® National Employment ReportTM produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab (“Stanford Lab“).
The jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s fine-grained anonymized and aggregated payroll data of over 25 million U.S. employees to provide a representative picture of the labor market. The report details the current month’s total private employment change, and weekly job data from the previous month. ADP’s pay measure uniquely captures the earnings of a cohort of almost 10 million employees over a 12-month period.
“There is a tradeoff in the labor market right now,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “We’re seeing robust hiring, which is good for the economy and workers, but pay growth is still quite elevated. The modest slowdown in pay increases, on its own, is unlikely to drive down inflation rapidly in the near-term.”
February 2023 Report Highlights*
View the ADP National Employment Report and interactive charts at www.adpemploymentreport.com.
Jobs Report
Private employers added 242,000 jobs in February
Job gains are solid and wage growth remains elevated. A particular area of weakness is with small establishments, which shed jobs every month since August 2022.
Change in U.S. Private Employment: 242,000
Change by Industry Sector
– Goods-producing: 52,000
- Natural resources/mining 25,000
- Construction -16,000
- Manufacturing 43,000
– Service-providing: 190,000
- Trade/transportation/utilities 3,000
- Information 9,000
- Financial activities 62,000
- Professional/business services -36,000
- Education/health services 35,000
- Leisure/hospitality 83,000
- Other services 34,000
Change by U.S. Regions
– Northeast: 37,000
- New England 2,000
- Middle Atlantic 35,000
– Midwest: -12,000
- East North Central -35,000
- West North Central 23,000
– South: 94,000
- South Atlantic 40,000
- East South Central 35,000
- West South Central 19,000
– West: 128,000
- Mountain 29,000
- Pacific 99,000
Change by Establishment Size
– Small establishments: -61,000
- 1-19 employees -56,000
- 20-49 employees -5,000
– Medium establishments: 148,000
- 50-249 employees 77,000
- 250-499 employees 71,000
– Large establishments: 160,000
- 500+ employees 160,000
Pay Insights
Pay growth slowed in February
Pay growth for job stayers slowed to 7.2 percent in February, the slowest pace of gains in 12 months. Pay growth decelerated for job changers, too, falling to 14.3 percent from 14.9 percent.
Median Change in Annual Pay (ADP matched person sample)
– Job-Stayers 7.2%
– Job-Changers 14.3%
Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Industry Sector
– Goods-producing:
- Natural resources/mining 7.8%
- Construction 7.1%
- Manufacturing 7.1%
– Service-providing:
- Trade/transportation/utilities 7.4%
- Information 6.5%
- Financial activities 7.3%
- Professional/business services 6.5%
- Education/health services 7.2%
- Leisure/hospitality 10.1%
- Other services 6.8%
Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Firm Size
– Small firms:
- 1-19 employees 5.6%
- 20-49 employees 7.1%
– Medium firms:
- 50-249 employees 7.5%
- 250-499 employees 7.4%
– Large firms:
- 500+ employees 7.5%
