‘The Groundwork Is Being Laid,’ As Private Employers Add Half-Million Jobs

Private sector employers added 517,000 positions in March (figure below), ADP said Wednesday, in what may (or may not) be a preview of Friday's all-important NFP report. Consensus was looking for 550,000, so the headline was a slight miss, although I doubt it matters. The range was 200,000 to 950,000 and ADP has a spotty track record when it comes to "predicting" NFP in the pandemic era. February's 117,000 print was revised higher to 176,000. With revisions, the number of private sector job