Small Businesses Add 111,000 Jobs in March, ADP Reports

Small business jobs grew by 111,000 during March, according to the ADP National Employment Report, produced in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

Regionally, in the US employers in the South lost 228,000 jobs. Strong jobs gains were in the Northeast, Midwest and West.

Small businesses of 1-19 employees increased by 38,000 jobs. Small businesses from 20-49 employees increased by 63,000 jobs.

Overall, private sector employment increased by 145,000 jobs in March and annual pay was up 6.9 percent year-over-year.

Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP attributed the small business growth to “labor market dynamics.”

“This has been a really competitive talent market,” Richardson said. “It wasn’t that the small firms didn’t want to hire – they were outcompeted by the larger firms.”

Now, Richardson said, the labor market is coming back into balance.

“The rapid gains (over the past year) were outside the normal,” she said. “It was jobs recovered that were lost during the pandemic.”

As the labor market settles – and while inflation is not driving up wages – small businesses should be “able to get more talent,” Richardson said.

“Our March payroll data is one of several signals that the economy is slowing,” she said. “Employers are pulling back from a year of strong hiring and pay growth, after a three-month plateau, is inching down.”

“Our March payroll data is one of several signals that the economy is slowing,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “Employers are pulling back from a year of strong hiring and pay growth, after a three-month plateau, is inching down.”

Pay Insights

Pay growth decelerated for both job stayers and job changers. For job stayers, year-over-year gains fell to 6.9 percent from 7.2 percent in February. Pay growth for job changers was 14.2 percent, down from 14.4 percent.

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