US Private Payrolls Growth Slows In March - ADP

• U.S. private employers hired far fewer workers than expected in March, adding to signs that the labour market was cooling. The ADP National Employment report on Wednesday followed on the heels of government data on Tuesday showing job openings falling below 10 million at the end of February for the first time in nearly two years.
• Slowing job growth will be welcomed by Federal Reserve officials as they consider whether to pause the U.S. central bank's fastest interest rate hiking cycle since the 1980s. "While we don't take too much signal from the ADP report, we think that the softness in the ADP data does provide at least some support for our view that the trend for job growth is moderating," said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.
• Private employment increased by 145,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment report showed on Wednesday. Data for February was revised higher to show 261,000 jobs added instead of 242,000 as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private employment increasing by 200,000.
• The goods-producing sector added 70,000 jobs, with construction employment increasing by 53,000. But manufacturing payrolls fell by 30,000. There were 75,000 jobs created in the service-providing sector. The leisure and hospitality industry hired 98,000 more workers while trade, transportation and utilities added 56,000 positions. However, there were job losses in the financial activities as well as professional and business services.
• The labour market is slowing as higher borrowing costs dampen demand in the economy. The government reported on Tuesday that there were 9.9 million job openings at the end of February. Still, there were 1.7 job openings for every unemployed worker in February, attesting to the labour market's tightness.

(Source: Reuters)