April saw a “burst of hiring” as private-sector employers added 296,000 jobs, yet annual wage growth decelerated to 6.7% year-over-year, according to the April ADP National Employment Report produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. 

By comparison, private-sector employment added 145,000 jobs in March. 

“The slowdown in pay growth gives the clearest signal of what’s going on in the labor market right now,” ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said Wednesday in a statement. “Employers are hiring aggressively while holding pay gains in check as workers come off the sidelines. Our data also shows fewer people are switching jobs.”

Health services/education companies added 69,000 jobs in April, and the leisure/hospitality sector created 154,000 jobs, according to the report. Professional/business services businesses lost a total of 16,000 jobs.

The jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s anonymized and aggregated payroll data of more than 25 million US employees.

According to data released Wednesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment rates were lower in March than a year earlier in 208 of 389 metropolitan

areas, higher in 151 areas and unchanged in 30 areas

The Northeast region of the country had the greatest number of jobs created, at 159,000, ADP reported. Next was the Midwest, with 118,000 new jobs and the West, at 109,000. Meanwhile, 100,000 jobs were lost in the South.

Large firms with 500 or more employees gained 47,000 jobs. Small businesses with one to 49 employees gained 121,000 jobs, and medium-sized companies with 50 to 499 employees added 122,000 jobs.

Wage growth continues deceleration

“Pay growth continued its nearly year-long slowdown,” according to ADP.

Job changers were particularly affected, with wage growth slowing from 14.2% growth in March to 13.2%. According to ADP, this represents the slowest pace of growth since November 2021.

For job stayers, following a year of strong hiring, wage growth began to decelerate in March to 6.9% year-over-year. It rose slightly in April to 6.7% year-over-year.

Small firms with one to 19 employees saw the smallest median change in annual pay, at 5.5%. The change was 6.7% for firms with 20 to 49 employees, 6.9% for firms with 50 to 249 employees, 6.8% for firms with 250 to 499 employees, and 6.8% at firms with 500 or more employees.

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