Private companies added 63,000 jobs in February, January revised to just 11,000 additions, ADP says

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Published Wed, Mar 4 2026 8:15 AM EST Updated 17 Min Ago


Private sector hiring was a bit better than expected in February, though most of the job creation came from just two sectors, ADP reported Wednesday.

Companies added a seasonally adjusted 63,000 workers during the month, an improvement from the downwardly revised 11,000 in January and better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 48,000, according to the payrolls processing firm’s latest update.

Though the total beat expectations, the issue of breadth continued to be a problem for the labor market.

Education and health services, an industry that has been the primary driver for job creation, added 58,000 jobs for the month, easily leading all sectors. After that, construction contributed 19,000, with the two industries offsetting stagnant growth across most other sectors.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/04/private-companies-added-63000-jobs-in-february-january-revised-to-just-11000-additions-adp-says.html

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This is the "3rd party" ADP that reports on "private sector jobs" (not all, which the fed's BLS will do this coming Friday).

[gab13by13]

1. Yeah but how many AI "workers" were added?

[Cheezoholic]

2. Waiting for AI "are" people too classification by this SCOTUS ;) n/t

[multigraincracker]

6. I suggest taxing Ai jobs the same as

real people, only with no deductions. Include SS taxes too.
Might work out well.

[Scrivener7]

3. Have we ever seen numbers this low??

[Multichromatic]

4. Are we in a recession yet?

Where is the wall to wall 24 hour news coverage freaking out about the Trump slump and the coming economic disaster. Or, is that only done when a Democrat is in office?

[progree]

5. ADP jobs report shows white-collar losses in February. Quartz

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adp-report-shows-white-collar-152518234.html
SCROLL DOWN PAST the Yahoo Finance article to find the Quartz article.

The topline number � 63,000 private-sector payroll jobs added in February, for the best showing since July 2025 � appears, at first, to be good news.

But glancing even just a few lines down the report changes the story and brings something alarming into view, with the ADP table showing that professional and business services shed 30,000 jobs last month. This is the category encompassing lawyers, consultants, accountants, marketers, and administrative positions � a broad swathe of the white-collar knowledge economy, at least within this type of reporting.

The headline number appears positive only because education and health services added 58,000 positions, a category driven by health care hiring that is only distantly related to trends in more elastic sectors and that, in large part, reflects growing health care demand caused by an aging population. Construction also added 19,000 jobs, helping obscure losses in other areas; experts say the growth of data centers is driving the mini-boom in the sector even as AI buildout spending may be a negative indicator for white-collar demand.

What's more, the same report reveals that January's already-weak job numbers have been revised from 22,000 down to 11,000. This means ADP's job numbers are worse than initial reporting has portrayed in recent times, and it roughly follows trends of downward revision in government statistics over the past year ((IOW expect the 63,000 jobs to be revised down -progree))

. . .

The reward for job-changers - historically one of the labor market's most reliable signals of worker leverage - has now hit a record low.

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Somebody asked about past jobs numbers --

For a history of PRIVATE SECTOR jobs gains (this from the BLS):
https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000001?output_view=net_1mth

I don't have a link to ADP's historic past numbers (which are private sector jobs), I'd certainly put it here if I had it.

All non-farm payroll jobs from the BLS (this is the headliner jobs number from the "First Friday" jobs report, which includes government jobs):
https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001?output_view=net_1mth

BTW, the next "First Friday" job report is scheduled for this Friday March 6.

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Lower Immigration Projections Mean Lower Breakeven Employment Growth Estimates, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 8/28/25

The old number: 150,000 jobs per month needed to keep the unemployment rate stable

The new number: 57,000 +/- 25,000 at a 90% confidence interval (think Heinz 57 varieties)

FFI: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143563268#post4