Payroll
processor ADP said Wednesday that financial services, retailers and
professional services firms also hired at a steady pace. The figures
suggest that companies focused on the domestic economy remain healthy,
despite gyrations in the financial markets and slowing global growth.
Manufacturers
have suffered from the strong dollar, which makes U.S. goods more
expensive overseas, and did not add any jobs last month.
"All
this turmoil in financial markets hasn't done any damage yet, that I
can see," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said. "That
is a very good sign." Moody's helps compile the ADP data.
The
data comes just two days before the government's official jobs report
for January. Economists forecast that report will show employers added
200,000 jobs and the unemployment rate remained 5 percent.
The ADP survey covers only private businesses and frequently diverges from the official figures.
Still, the data suggests that layoffs and weak hiring are confined to the oil and gas drilling and manufacturing sectors.
"Outside of that, job growth is very strong," Zandi said.
Solid
hiring numbers contrast with weak data on the overall economy, which
expanded at just a 0.7 percent annual rate in the final three months of
last year. Economists expect growth figures will improve in the current
quarter.
But the gap between the jobs and growth data also reflects very weak growth in productivity, or the efficiency of the workforce.
Productivity
measures the average output of workers per hour. It has risen at just a
0.5 percent annual rate in the past five years, far below the
post-World War II average of about 2 percent.
That
means employers have to hire more workers to generate more output.
While it may help boost job gains in the short run, sluggish
productivity growth also slows wage gains and economic growth. Rising
productivity allows employers to raise pay without having to push up
prices.
By: Christopher S. Rugaber (AP).
Review: Emerging Market Formulations &
Research Unit, Flagship Records.
For The #FacebookTeam