Private sector employment increased by 139,000 jobs from January to February according to the February ADP National Employment Report®. … The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis.
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Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “February was another soft month for the job market. Employment was weak across a number of industries. Bad winter weather, especially in mid-month, weighed on payrolls. Job growth is expected to improve with warmer temperatures.”
This was below the consensus forecast for 158,000 private sector jobs added in the ADP report.
Note: ADP hasn’t been very useful in directly predicting the BLS report on a monthly basis, but it might provide a hint. The BLS report for February will be released on Friday.