ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 278,000 Jobs in May; Annual Pay was Up 6.5%

ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 278,000 Jobs in May; Annual Pay was Up 6.5%

Career Climbers / 6th June 2023

Private sector employment increased by 278,000 jobs in May, and annual pay was up 6.5 percent year-over-year, according to the May ADP^® National Employment Report™ produced by the ADP Research Institute^® in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab (“Stanford Lab“).

The jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s fine-grained anonymized and aggregated payroll data of over 25 million U.S. employees to provide a representative picture of the labor market. The report details the current month’s total private employment change and weekly job data from the previous month. ADP’s pay measure uniquely captures the earnings of a cohort of almost 10 million employees over a 12-month period.

“This is the second month we’ve seen a full percentage point decline in pay growth for job changers,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “Pay growth is slowing substantially, and wage-driven inflation may be less of a concern for the economy despite robust hiring.”

May 2023 Report Highlights*

View the ADP National Employment Report and interactive charts at www.adpemploymentreport.com.

JOBS REPORT

Private employers added 278,000 jobs in May
Job growth is strong while pay growth continues to slow. But gains in private employment were fragmented last month, with leisure and hospitality, natural resources, and construction taking the lead. Manufacturing and finance lost jobs.

Change in U.S. Private Employment:     278,000

Change by Industry Sector

– Goods-producing:     110,000

• Natural resources/mining     94,000
• Construction     64,000
• Manufacturing     -48,000

– Service-providing:     168,000

• Trade/transportation/utilities     32,000
• Information     -15,000
• Financial activities     -35,000
• Professional/business services     -5,000
• Education/health services     -29,000
• Leisure/hospitality     208,000
• Other services     12,000

Change by U.S. Regions

– Northeast:     197,000

• New England     76,000
• Middle Atlantic     121,000

– Midwest:     139,000

• East North Central     75,000
• West North Central     64,000

– South:     -204,000

• South Atlantic     -77,000
• East South Central     -33,000
• West South Central     -94,000

– West:     134,000

• Mountain     -36,000
• Pacific     170,000

Change by Establishment Size

– Small establishments:     235,000

• 1-19 employees     116,000
• 20-49 employees     119,000

– Medium establishments:     140,000

• 50-249 employees     112,000
• 250-499 employees     28,000

– Large establishments:     -106,000

• 500+ employees     -106,000

PAY INSIGHTS

Pay gains slowed again in May
Last month brought a broad-based slowdown in pay increases. Job changers saw a gain of 12.1 percent, down a full percentage point from April. For job stayers, the increase was 6.5 percent in May, down from 6.7 percent.

Median Change in Annual Pay (ADP matched person sample)

– Job-Stayers     6.5%

– Job-Changers     12.1%

Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Industry Sector

– Goods-producing:                                                       

• Natural resources/mining     6.6%
• Construction     6.7%
• Manufacturing     5.9%

– Service-providing:                                               

• Trade/transportation/utilities     6.4%
• Information     5.8%
• Financial activities     6.7%
• Professional/business services     6.2%
• Education/health services     7.0%
• Leisure/hospitality     8.4%
• Other services     6.4%

Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Firm Size

– Small firms:                                                                

• 1-19 employees     5.4%
• 20-49 employees     6.5%

– Medium firms:                                                             

• 50-249 employees     6.8%
• 250-499 employees     6.6%

– Large firms:                                                                

• 500+ employees     6.6%