152,000 New Jobs Added In May, Missing Expectations: 'Notable Pockets Of Weakness'

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The rate of job creation in the U.S. private sector fell short of expectations in May, signaling a potential cooling in the labor market.

U.S. private employers added 152,000 new jobs last month. That's down from 192,000 in April, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report. The outcome missed market consensus estimates compiled by Econoday which expected a rise to 173,000.

The ADP report provides an early glimpse of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May jobs report, which is set to be released this Friday.

Economists anticipate an increase in nonfarm payrolls from 175,000 in April to 195,000 in May. They also expect the unemployment rate to remain steady at 3.9%, with average hourly earnings projected to increase slightly from 0.2% to 0.3% month-over-month.

May's ADP National Employment Report: Key Highlights

  • Services-providing companies added 149,000 jobs, while goods producers 3,000.
  • Industries experiencing notable increases in employment include trade, transportation, and utilities (up by 55,000), education/health services (up by 46,000), construction (up by 32,000), financial activities (up by 26,000), leisure and hospitality (up by 12,000).
  • Information was the only service-related industry experiencing a loss of 7,000 jobs. Among goods-producing industries, natural resources and manufacturing lost 9,000 and 20,000 jobs.
  • Wage growth remained broadly steady, with job-stayers seeing a 5.0% pay increase, while job changers experienced a 7.8% increase, down from the 9.3% in April.
"Job gains and pay growth are slowing going into the second half of the year. The labor market is solid, but we're monitoring notable pockets of weakness tied to both producers and consumers," Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said.

Market Reactions

The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), as tracked by the Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF (NYSE: UUP), inched slightly up following the release.

Treasury bond yields held steady, with the 10-year benchmark yield trading at 4.32%.

Futures on U.S. equity indices fell during the premarket trading Wednesday. Contracts on the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 were up by 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, by 8:20 a.m. ET.

On Tuesday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) closed 0.1% higher, while the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) slightly outperformed, up 0.3%.