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ADP Private-Sector Jobs Hit 246K, Way Above Estimates

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Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Payroll processing giant ADP (ADP - Free Report) has released its January private sector jobs report before the bell this morning, posting a far-better-than-expected 246K new jobs for the month. Consensus expectations had been for 164K. December’s total was revised downward by 2000 jobs to 151K, which is the range in which the U.S. labor market had been settling prior to this morning’s number.

The Services group still rules the roost, with 201K new January jobs in the private sector, whereas Goods brought in 46K. Manufacturing and Mining totals, while not incredibly strong, at least have swung to the positive — 15K and 6K, respectively. Healthcare put up a strong 49K, but the top two sectors were in Professional/Business Services at 71K and Trade/Transportation/Utilities at 63K.

Good weather in January can likely take some of this credit. Medium-sized companies (between 50-499 employees) brought in the lion’s share with 102K, followed by large companies (500+ employees) at 83K, with Small firms (under 50) picking up the remaining 62K. For years, at least seemingly, it had been small-business hiring which had kept the labor market strong. This looks to be shifting.

The ADP report serves as somewhat of a forward indicator toward the monthly non-farm payroll results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which also includes Government jobs and will be released Friday. However, the analyst consensus for the BLS total is 174K as of now, down considerably from today’s private-sector results. Historically, the ADP and BLS numbers don’t always gibe in the near-term, but upon revisions in future months they tend to track each other pretty consistently.

What some economists predict going forward, though, is a labor market that shows increasing difficulties with filling open job positions. This is part of what it means to have an Unemployment rate at around 4.7%. This results in wage growth picking up, which we’ve also seen some evidence of lately. So the potential problems with finding employees with the skill-sets to fill certain positions — which may be exacerbated by the Trump administration’s rather draconian policies regarding immigration reform, in that immigrants traditionally absorb many jobs on the lower levels of the pay-scale — may manifest in a stagnating labor market going forward.

Earnings Update

Apple (AAPL - Free Report) put up Q1 2017 earnings numbers after the bell that were reminiscent of the tech giant’s late-era Steve Jobs years, blowing the doors off expectations for iPhone sales in the quarter. After the market closes this afternoon we will see results from social media leader Facebook . For a more in-depth analysis, check out this segment from last week’s Friday Finish Line: Can Facebook Continue Its Insane Growth?

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

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