Employment in the private sector was stronger than projected last month, according to a report from the payroll processing firm ADP, the latest data pointing to a stabilizing job market as the Federal Reserve appears less motivated to cut interest rates amid higher inflation.
Recent data has pointed to a stabilizing job market.
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Private-sector payrolls advanced by 109,000 in April, ADP reported, exceeding consensus analyst estimates of 107,500, according to FactSet.
That’s the most jobs added by private employers in a single month since March 2025 (155,000).
Education and health services once again accounted for a majority of April’s job growth, adding 61,000 roles, followed by trade, transportation and utilities (25,000), construction (10,000) and financial services (9,000), while businesses and professional services shed 8,000 jobs.
Businesses with fewer than 50 employees added 65,000 jobs in the month, and larger employers with more than 500 employees added 42,000, though businesses in between added just 2,000.
Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, said in a statement the firm was seeing “softness in the middle,” adding larger companies “have resources to deploy, and small ones are the most nimble, both important advantages in a complex labor environment.”
April’s nonfarm jobs data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will report broader employment data on Friday, which is expected to show a slowdown from March’s growth, with an added 50,000 jobs after the previous month’s 178,000. The unemployment rate is projected to settle at 4.3%.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell described the U.S. job market as “low-hire, low-fire” last year as federal data appeared to show companies reducing the number of workers they are actively hiring while also lowering the number of workers they are cutting. The hiring rate has remained low in recent months, and the firing rate has also dropped, while fewer Americans are switching jobs. The labor participation rate, or the percentage of the population working or looking for work, fell to 61.9% in March, the lowest rate since 2021, but projections from the St. Louis Federal Reserve suggest the unemployment rate has stabilized so far this year. Employment growth has accelerated this year, largely thanks to health care, which accounted for more than half of March’s job growth after a broader health worker strike in February sidelined some 30,000 workers.
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