U.S. private employers likely added 106,000 jobs in March, a report by a private employment
service said.
The report suggests employment in March grew in line with the recent three-month average increase in employment of 101,000, said ADP Employer Services, whose employment report was jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers.
ADP said service sector jobs rose 128,000 in March while goods-producing jobs fell by 22,000.
Automatic Data Processing, based in Roseland, New Jersey, is the parent of ADP Employer Services and is a large payroll services company. Macroeconomic Advisers is based in St. Louis, Missouri. The ADP National Employment Report is released each month, two days prior to the government's own job survey.
According to the latest Reuters poll of economists, the U.S. Labor Department on Friday is expected to show that 120,000 non-farm payroll jobs were created in March, up from 97,000 in February.
Layoffs Decline
Also out this morning, planned U.S. layoffs plunged 42% to an eight-month low in March, but troubles in the home building sector deepened, with employers stepping up job cuts, an independent report showed.
Announced layoffs came in at 48,997 in March, compared to 84,014 in February, according to employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. This was the lowest since last July when layoffs amounted to 37,178.
"While many have predicted that the housing market has hit bottom, the situation seems only to worsen as home builders continue to report slumping orders," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
"Now we are seeing the impact hit traditional as well as sub-prime mortgage lenders as demand for loans declines and the number of foreclosures skyrockets," he added. Subprime mortgages are extended to borrowers with poor credit.