ADP Employment: More Solid Job Gains

Bottom Line: ADP's tally of private sector employment showed another month of strong job gains. Gains were once again strong in service producing industries. ADP data do not account for government workers which are included in the Employment Situation headline number. This would suggest the potential for an upside beat of the 200k consensus for the nonfarm payroll report due Friday. ADP National Employment ROSE by 235k in February, compared with the consensus estimate for a gain of 200k. Meanwhile, the revisions to the prior 3 months added an additional 20k to the previous estimate. Over the past 12 months, private payrolls have increased by an average of 182k per month, lifting employment to 1.8% ABOVE its year ago level. Jobs in Goods-Producing Industries ROSE by 37k jobs but Manufacturing gained 14k workers. Moreover, Construction gained 21k jobs. Meanwhile, Service-Producing Industries ROSE by 198k jobs with Professional/Business Services hiring 46k workers, Trade/Transport/Utilities adding 44k, and Financial Activities increasing by 9k workers. Small Firms hired 68k workers, Medium-Sized Firms grew by 97k employees while Large Firms added 70k positions.