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Although somewhat restrained by weather and related disruptions, U.S. employers continued to add workers during January. The uptick included hiring in sectors like hospitality, where employers had struggled to find enough employees. The positive trend gave more weight to forecasters who have said a recession is likely to be mild or nonexistent.
This comes to us from the monthly employment survey by ADP, which does an in-depth look each month at a particular week. ADP in a release explained that the week chosen for the reference week – the week of Jan. 12 – was lower than expected due to poor weather conditions across much of the U.S. ADP says the other three weeks of the month showed stronger hiring trends and were more representative of the economy's trajectory.
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On the down side, construction, trade/transportation/utilities, and natural resources still faced challenges, with employment down in those sectors after seasonal adjustments. Small businesses also reported losing employees.
But across most industries, employers said they were hiring. Particularly active were financial services and leisure/hospitality, the latter up significantly after several years of hiring challenges. Other gainers included education/health services, professional services, and IT.
Big gains tended to be focused on major employers. The 500+ employee firms added 128,000 jobs in the month, while medium sized firms also grew staff. Small businesses reported losses. Regionally, the biggest gains were reported by southern and northeastern employers.
On the pay side, ADP reported pay stagnation for those who remained in the jobs, and pay hikes for job hoppers.
"Pay growth for job stayers held at 7.3% for the second month, with most industries little changed. One outlier was the information sector, where pay growth decelerated from 7% to 6.6%. For job changers, pay growth accelerated to 15.4%," the report says.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
