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US hiring slows in May: ADP survey
WASHINGTON, May 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Private-sector hiring slowed somewhat
in May, according to payrolls firm ADP, which warned Wednesday that some
firms are having trouble finding workers in a tightening labor market.
Companies added 178,000 jobs in the private sector last month, according
to the report, down from the 204,000 in April and a bit below analyst
expectations. The ADP report comes ahead of Friday’s government jobs report
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
US hiring has steadily improved in the last few years, resulting in April
in the lowest unemployment rate in more than 17 years.
At the same time, wage inflation has been relatively modest in many
sectors, lessening the pressure on the Federal Reserve to quicken the pace of
interest rate increases.
ADP officials said there were signs of wage inflation in some sectors.
“Job growth is strong, but slowing, as businesses are unable to fill a
record number of open positions.
“Wage growth is accelerating in response, most notably for young, new
entrants and those changing jobs,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at
Moody’s Analytics. “Finding workers is increasingly becoming businesses
number one problem.”
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, trimmed his
estimate for the May US jobs report following the ADP data.
“What’s not clear, though, is whether the below-trend numbers for April
and, it seems, May, are due to a softening in labor demand, perhaps triggered
by all the talk of trade wars, or are due to the shortage of qualified
staff,” he said.
“On the surface, the data are a little weaker than seems consistent with
consensus expectations for payrolls in the Bureau of Labor Statistics report
on Friday,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief US economist at High Frequency
Economics.
“However, the usual caveat: ADP is far from infallible for signaling the
BLS data.”
BSS/AFP/HR/1200