ADP Employment: Strong Report As January Revised Higher

Bottom Line: ADP said job growth was a touch lower than expected in February, but January's gains were revised sharply higher. Even with a sharp decline in jobs in the trade and transportation sector, the labor market remained quite strong in the first two months of 2019. On a trend basis these data suggest a modest acceleration higher in the long and steady trend of job gains. ADP National Employment ROSE by 183k in February, compared with the consensus estimate for a gain of 190k. Meanwhile, the revisions to the prior 3 months added an additional 62k to the previous estimate. Over the past 12 months, private payrolls have increased by an average of 220k per month, lifting employment to 2.1% ABOVE its year ago level. Jobs in Goods-Producing Industries ROSE by 44k jobs as Manufacturing gained 17k workers. Moreover, Construction gained 25k jobs. Meanwhile, Service-Producing Industries ROSE by 139k jobs with Professional/Business Services hiring 27k workers, Trade/Transport/Utilities subtracting -82k, and Financial Activities increasing by 21k workers. Small Firms hired 100k workers, Medium-Sized Firms grew by 95k employees while Large Firms added 77k positions.