ADP Employment Report Shows Jobs Increase by 140,000 and Salaries Up 5.1 Percent

Private sector employment increased by 140,000 jobs in February and annual pay was up 5.1 percent year-over-year, according to the February ADP National Employment Report produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure and high-frequency view of the private-sector labor market based on actual, anonymized payroll data of more than 25 million U.S. employees.

The jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s fine-grained anonymized and aggregated payroll data to provide a representative picture of the private-sector labor market. The report details the current month’s total private employment change, and weekly job data from the previous month.

Because the underlying ADP payroll databases are continuously updated, the report provides a high-frequency, near real-time measure of U.S. employment. This measure reflects the number of employees on ADP client payrolls to provide a richer understanding of the labor market. ADP’s pay measure uniquely captures the earnings of a cohort of almost 10 million employees over a 12-month period.

“Job gains remain solid. Pay gains are trending lower but are still above inflation,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “In short, the labor market is dynamic, but doesn’t tip the scales in terms of a Fed rate decision this year.”

February 2024 Report Highlights*

View the ADP National Employment Report and interactive charts at www.adpemploymentreport.com.

JOBS REPORT

Private employers added 140,000 jobs in February
While employment growth remained steady, pay gains for job-changers accelerated for the first time in more than a year, rising to 7.6 percent from 7.2 percent.

Change in U.S. Private Employment: 140,000

Change by Industry Sector

– Goods-producing: 30,000

Natural resources/mining -4,000
Construction 28,000
Manufacturing 6,000

– Service-providing: 110,000

Trade/transportation/utilities 24,000
Information -2,000
Financial activities 17,000
Professional/business services 5,000
Education/health services 11,000
Leisure/hospitality 41,000
Other services 14,000

Change by U.S. Regions

– Northeast: 20,000

New England 6,000
Middle Atlantic 14,000

– Midwest: 39,000

East North Central 32,000
West North Central 7,000

– South: 37,000

South Atlantic 35,000
East South Central -13,000
West South Central 15,000

– West: 42,000

Mountain 7,000
Pacific 35,000

Change by Establishment Size

– Small establishments: 13,000

1-19 employees 11,000
20-49 employees 2,000

– Medium establishments: 69,000

50-249 employees 53,000
250-499 employees 16,000

– Large establishments: 61,000

500+ employees 61,000

PAY INSIGHTS

Pay gains for job-changers rose in February
For job-changers, year-over-year pay gains were 7.6 percent, up from the prior month and the first increase since November 2022. Pay gains for job-stayers continued to decelerate, reaching 5.1 percent, the smallest gain since August 2021.

Median Change in Annual Pay (ADP matched person sample)

– Job-Stayers 5.1%

– Job-Changers 7.6%

Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Industry Sector

– Goods-producing:

Natural resources/mining 4.5%
Construction 5.5%
Manufacturing 4.8%

– Service-providing:

Trade/transportation/utilities 4.6%
Information 4.8%
Financial activities 5.5%
Professional/business services 5.1%
Education/health services 5.7%
Leisure/hospitality 5.9%
Other services 5.5%

Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Firm Size

– Small firms:

1-19 employees 4.4%
20-49 employees 5.2%

– Medium firms:

50-249 employees 5.4%
250-499 employees 5.3%

– Large firms:

500+ employees 5.1%

To see Pay Insights by U.S. State, Gender, and Age for Job-Stayers, visit here:

* Sum of components may not equal total, due to rounding.

The January total of jobs added was revised from 107,000 to 111,000. The historical data file, and weekly data for the previous month, is available at https://adpemploymentreport.com/.

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