That was nearly 90,000 more positions than economists expected, and a sharp reversal since January, when the ADP initially saw a surprising drop in jobs.
In the footsteps of the Ministry of Labor, ADP revise and compare its figures for 2021, ADP chief economist Nela Richardson told a news conference Wednesday.
IN a surprising decline of 301,000 jobs originally reported for January, for example, was revised to an increase of 509,000 jobs. The update was huge, but it wasn’t to ADP got the numbers wrong at first.
With these revisions, the increase in jobs in February was actually the weakest since August, although it exceeded expectations.
“You can see in all the data that the huge upheavals and fluctuations in the first days of the pandemic will affect measurements and seasonal adjustments,” Richardson told CNN Business. That is why the revisions in economic models are so great at the moment.
But instead of losing faith in the ability of economists to forecast, we need to keep the perspective, Richardson urged.
Last year, the US economy still added more than six million jobs, and 2022 is expected to be another strong year for the labor market as employers continue to struggle with labor shortages.
Weekly unemployment claims are returning to pre-pandemic levels, reflecting that companies are reluctant to lay off workers, Richardson added.
In February, the leisure and hotel sector added the most positions – 170,000. None of the main sectors lost their jobs, although growth was low in education as well as in mining.
In terms of business size, large companies with more than 1,000 employees have added the most staff, while small companies with up to 49 employees are cutting jobs.
The ADP report tracks private sector employment and is not linked to the official number of government jobs scheduled for Friday morning. Economists polled by Refinitiv forecast 400,000 jobs for the government report. However, the report on private wages is closely monitored and is considered key to the US labor market.