Private employers created 175,000 new jobs in January, according to new report by payrolls processor ADP. Economists and labor experts, however, had expected that the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 180,000 jobs.
According to Moody's Analytics – who jointly conducted the study alongside ADP – the cold and stormy weather that has affected much of the nation had a big influence on job creation. The financial services company's chief economist Mark Zandi told Reuters that job growth may have been better had it not been for the snow and sub-freezing temperatures.
Broken down by size and industry, firms with more than 500 employees added 34,000 jobs, while manufacturers actually lost 12,000 positions. Only small businesses truly seemed to excel in January, as they brought in 75,000 new jobs. This figure however is still the lowest that it has been in over half a year.
Some financial analysts are speculating that these unmet expectations may be a sign of greater job creation in the future.
"The outcome is a touch lower than expected but still above our expectations for private payrolls to run at around 155,000," Annalisa Piazza, fixed-income strategist at Newedge, wrote in a comment, as reported by Reuters. "That said, today's outcome represents the weakest ADP reading since August 2013 and it points in the direction of some moderation of job creation at the turn of the year."
The financial markets did not react immediately to the ADP report, but it remains to be seen what the long-term implications of slowed growth will be.
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