Private-sector employment added 278,000 jobs last month, but the health services and education sector lost 29,000 jobs. That’s according to the May ADP National Employment Report produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.
Among the services-providing sectors, only the financial activities sector fared worse, losing 35,000 jobs in May. Meanwhile, the leisure and hospitality sector tacked on 208,000 new jobs.
The Northeast region of the country saw the highest number of jobs created, 197,000, followed by the Midwest a and the West, at 139,000 and 134,000 new jobs, respectively. The South, on the other hand, lost 204,000 jobs last month, according to the report.
Large firms (500 or more employees) lost 106,000 jobs, whereas small businesses (one to 49 employees( gained 235,000 jobs. Medium-sized companies (50 to 499 employees) added 140,000 jobs.
The jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s anonymized and aggregated payroll data of more than 25 million US employees.
The April total of jobs added was revised from 296,000 to 291,000, the current report noted.
Wage growth
Annual pay increased by 6.5% over the previous year, but wage growth is on the decline, according to the employment report. Job-changers saw a gain in pay of 12.1%, down a full percentage point from April. For job-stayers, the pay increase was 6.5% in May, down from 6.7% the previous month.
“This is the second month we’ve seen a full percentage point decline in pay growth for job-changers,” ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said in a statement. “Pay growth is slowing substantially, and wage-driven inflation may be less of a concern for the economy despite robust hiring.”
Pay increased by 7% in the health services and education sector, whereas employees in leisure and hospitality saw an 8.4% increase.
Pay growth was 6.6% among large firms, 6.6% to 6.8% for medium-sized companies, and 5.4% to 6.5% for small businesses.
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