U.S. Private Sector Adds 192,000 Jobs In April

The private sector added 192,000 jobs in April, joined by a modest 5% increase in annual pay year-over-year, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report.

The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure that provides a high-frequency view of the private-sector labor market, utilizing anonymized payroll data of more than 25 million U.S. employees. 

“Hiring was broad-based in April,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “Only the information sector – telecommunications, media, and information technology – showed weakness, posting job losses and the smallest pace of pay gains since August 2021.”

The average pace of hiring has accelerated over the last three months following a slowdown in late 2023. This rise in employment nearly matches gains made in the first half of last year. 

Among industry sectors posting the highest job gains, service-providers added 145,000 positions, and goods producers, 47,000.

The South added the most jobs at 124,000, followed by the Northeast (36,000), the Midwest (33,000), and the West (11,000).

Meanwhile, pay growth continues to slow, falling from 10.1% in March to 9.3% in April for people changing jobs. It was little-changed for job-stayers, at 5%. However, pay does remain higher than it was at the beginning of this year.