Job growth slows, particularly with small business

ADP said there were just a net 37k private sector jobs created in May after a 60k person rise in April. That was well under the estimate of 114k. Small business not just reigned in their hiring, they shed workers on a net basis with companies with less than 50 workers losing 13k jobs. Also of note, large companies, those with more than 500 employees, let go a few thousand. So, the only area of job growth was the 49k person gain for medium sized businesses.

Sector wise, the service sector added 36k jobs, a similar modest pace seen in April but with a mixed breakdown. Jobs in trade/transportation/utilities, professional/business services and education/health services all lost jobs. Job gains were seen in information, financial services and leisure/hospitality.

On the goods side, manufacturing shed 3k, mining lost 5k while construction added 6k. Adding the two sector together equals 34k total jobs added so I’m not sure where ADP gets the extra 3k.