Inside the ADP Report... August job growth was...
Bottom Line: Meh. After a terrific run of job growth to start the summer it was just ok in August. According to the ADP private sector jobs report we added another 163,000 jobs in August. That’s actually about in line with August of 2017 but is the lowest of 2018 thus far. It is worth noting that with the lowest unemployment rate in 18 years, often there would be better job growth if companies were able to find the talent they’re seeking to hire. That appeared to be the case in August.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
- We added 7,000 fewer private sector jobs in year over year in August
- In 2018 we've averaged 200,500 private sector jobs per month
As for where the jobs were added in July:
- Small biz: +21k
- Mid-Sized: +111k
- Large: +31k
So mid-sized companies (50-499 employees) are still knocking the cover off of the ball with growth. They’ve consistently benefitted the most by economic growth in 2018. Less than ideal is the small business story. The job growth was lighter than we’d want to see and smaller businesses are consistently having a tougher time competing for talent in today’s tight labor market. Earlier this week President Trump signed an executive order aimed at cutting regulations on small businesses to be able to more easily engage in benefit programs aimed at being more competitive with larger companies. Hopefully it proves to be effective.
As for industries leading the pack...
- Professional and business services: +38k
- Education & Health +31k
- Leisure & Hospitality: +25k
- Trade, transportation & utilities: +21k
- Manufacturing: +19k
Until next time...