Company Payrolls in U.S. Grow But Still Below Pre-Crisis Levels

According to data from a private report based on payrolls, companies in America enlarged payrolls in March. This indicated a growth for the labor market and showed that it is on the rise. Statistics from the ADP Employer Services showed that employment increased by 209,000 for the month after a revised 230,000 gain in February.

Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in St. Louis, said the “Labor market conditions continue to improve at a moderate pace,” “Employment grew in all major sectors of the economy tracked.”

Addressing a conference, CEO of Kelly Services Inc. (KELYA) said, “We think improving performance in the U.S. should support economic and labor-market growth,” “We believe the US economy has now reached the level of growth needed to support continuous job creation.”

The rise in the labour market is expected to lead to increase in wages, which will then increase the consumers buying power. Economists have predicted that in 2 days, Labor department report will show, that businesses have added 215,000 jobs in March, and the unemployment rate has held at 8.3 percent. However, estimates by 38 economists, in the survey by Bloomberg varied from a low of 170,000 to the highest estimate of 250,000.

ADP said, Service providers added 164,000 workers; companies employing more than 499 workers expanded their workforces by 22,000 jobs. Medium-sized businesses, with 50 to 499 employees, created 87,000 jobs and small companies increased payrolls by 100,000. The ADP report further showed an increase of 45,000 workers in goods-producing industries, which includes manufacturers and construction companies. Employment at factories rose by 23,000.

Current ADP’s estimates were very close to the Labor Department’s estimates of private payrolls. In its first estimate of private rolls in October ADP had exceeded it by 6000. In December, it missed by a wide margin in December, when they overestimated the employment gain by 113,000.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke welcomed the rise saying, “A wide range of indicators suggests that the job market has been improving, which is a welcome development indeed,” he however, cautioned saying, “still, conditions remain far from normal, as shown, for example, by the high level of long-term unemployment and the fact that jobs and hours worked remain well below pre-crisis peaks.”