ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 77,000 Jobs in February; Annual Pay was Up 4.7%

Rhea-AI Summary

ADP's February 2025 National Employment Report shows private sector employment increased by 77,000 jobs, marking the smallest gain since July. The report reveals annual pay growth remained stable at 4.7% for job-stayers, while job-changers saw a slight decrease from 6.8% to 6.7% year-over-year.

Key sector changes include: goods-producing sectors added 42,000 jobs, while service-providing sectors gained 36,000. Notable shifts occurred in leisure/hospitality (+41,000), professional/business services (+27,000), and financial activities (+26,000). However, trade/transportation/utilities (-33,000), education/health services (-28,000), and information (-14,000) experienced losses.

Regionally, the Northeast (+55,000) and Midwest (+56,000) showed growth, while the South (-12,000) and West (-27,000) declined. By establishment size, small businesses lost 12,000 jobs, while medium and large establishments gained 46,000 and 37,000 jobs respectively.

Positive

• Pay growth remained stable at 4.7% for job-stayers
• Job-changers continue to see higher wage growth at 6.7%
• Medium and large businesses showed job gains of 46,000 and 37,000 respectively
• Strong regional growth in Northeast (+55,000) and Midwest (+56,000)

Negative

• Overall job growth slowed to 77,000, lowest since July
• Multiple sectors showed job losses including trade/transportation (-33,000) and education/health (-28,000)
• Small businesses lost 12,000 jobs
• South and West regions showed employment declines
• Information sector shed 14,000 jobs

Insights

Economic Analyst

The February ADP National Employment Report revealed a significant slowdown in private sector job growth, with just 77,000 jobs added – the weakest gain since July and dramatically lower than January's revised 186,000. This deceleration supports ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson's assessment of emerging "hiring hesitancy" among employers amid policy uncertainty and reduced consumer spending.

The report exposes concerning sectoral disparities. Trade/transportation/utilities (-33,000), education/health services (-28,000), and information sectors (-14,000) all shed jobs. This contrasts with continued hiring in leisure/hospitality (+41,000) and construction (+26,000). The regional distribution shows a clear divide with job growth concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, while the South (-12,000) and West (-27,000) experienced contraction.

Small businesses losing 12,000 positions signals potential stress in this segment, while medium and large employers continued hiring. This bifurcation merits attention as small business health typically serves as a leading economic indicator.

From ADP's perspective, this report demonstrates the company's expanding data analytics capabilities – with pay insights now capturing nearly 14.8 million monthly observations, up almost 50% from launch. This growing dataset enhances ADP's value proposition as both a service provider and economic intelligence source, potentially strengthening client relationships during uncertain economic periods when workforce management becomes increasingly critical.

Labor Market Specialist

While headline job growth decelerated sharply, wage data provides a more nuanced picture of labor market conditions. Annual pay growth remained steady at 4.7% for job-stayers, suggesting that despite the hiring slowdown, employers are still maintaining competitive compensation for their existing workforce to retain talent.

The slight moderation in job-changer pay growth (from 6.8% to 6.7%) indicates the premium for switching positions remains substantial but may be starting to normalize. This persistent wage growth differential between stayers and changers continues to incentivize worker mobility despite fewer new positions being created.

Company size analysis reveals important structural shifts: employees at the smallest firms (1-19 workers) experienced markedly lower pay growth at just 2.8%, while workers at larger organizations saw increases around 5%. This widening compensation gap by employer size could accelerate talent migration toward larger enterprises and create additional headwinds for small businesses already struggling with hiring.

Sector-level wage data shows financial activities leading with 5.1% growth, while information sector workers saw the lowest increases at 4.2%. The relative compression of these figures (within a 0.9 percentage point range) suggests broad-based wage pressure rather than acute shortages in specific industries, which aligns with a gradually cooling but still tight labor market. This balanced wage pressure provides valuable context to the more alarming headline job numbers, indicating the employment situation may be transitioning rather than collapsing.

ROSELAND, N.J., March 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Private sector employment increased by 77,000 jobs in February and annual pay was up 4.7 percent year-over-year, according to the February ADP^® National Employment Report™ produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab ("Stanford Lab"). The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure and high-frequency view of the private-sector labor market based on actual, anonymized payroll data of more than 25 million U.S. employees.

The jobs report and pay insights use ADP's fine-grained anonymized and aggregated payroll data to provide a representative picture of the private-sector labor market. The report details the current month's total private employment change, and weekly job data from the previous month. Because the underlying ADP payroll databases are continuously updated, the report provides a high-frequency, near real-time measure of U.S. employment. This measure reflects the number of employees on ADP client payrolls (Payroll Employment) to provide a richer understanding of the labor market. As of January 2025, ADP's Pay Insights measure captures nearly 14.8 million individual pay change observations each month, up from nearly 10 million when it launched.

"Policy uncertainty and a slowdown in consumer spending might have led to layoffs or a slowdown in hiring last month," said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. "Our data, combined with other recent indicators, suggests a hiring hesitancy among employers as they assess the economic climate ahead."

February 2025 Report Highlights*

View the ADP National Employment Report and interactive charts at www.adpemploymentreport.com.

JOBS REPORT

Private employers added 77,000 jobs in February
Hiring slowed to the smallest level of gains since July, with trade and transportation, health care and education, and information showing job losses. Small business employment also fell.

Change in U.S. Private Employment:     77,000

Change by Industry Sector

- Goods-producing:     42,000

• Natural resources/mining     -2,000
• Construction     26,000
• Manufacturing     18,000

- Service-providing:     36,000

• Trade/transportation/utilities     -33,000
• Information     -14,000
• Financial activities     26,000
• Professional/business services     27,000
• Education/health services     -28,000
• Leisure/hospitality     41,000
• Other services     17,000

Change by U.S. Regions

- Northeast:     55,000

• New England     34,000
• Middle Atlantic     21,000

- Midwest:     56,000

• East North Central     45,000
• West North Central    11,000

- South:     -12,000

• South Atlantic     -26,000
• East South Central     32,000
• West South Central     -18,000

- West:     -27,000

• Mountain     -2,000
• Pacific     -25,000

Change by Establishment Size

- Small establishments:     -12,000

• 1-19 employees     -17,000
• 20-49 employees     5,000

- Medium establishments:     46,000

• 50-249 employees    15,000
• 250-499 employees     31,000

- Large establishments:     37,000

• 500+ employees     37,000

PAY INSIGHTS

Pay gains remained stable in February
For job-changers, year-over-year pay gains slowed slightly, from 6.8 percent in January to 6.7 percent. Pay gains for job-stayers were flat at 4.7 percent.

Median Change in Annual Pay (ADP matched person sample)

- Job-Stayers     4.7%

- Job-Changers     6.7%

Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Industry Sector

- Goods-producing:                                                       

• Natural resources/mining     4.4%
• Construction     4.9%
• Manufacturing     4.8%

- Service-providing:                                               

• Trade/transportation/utilities    4.4%
• Information     4.2%
• Financial activities     5.1%
• Professional/business services    4.5%
• Education/health services     4.9%
• Leisure/hospitality     4.8%
• Other services     4.5%

Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Firm Size

- Small firms:                                                                

• 1-19 employees     2.8%
• 20-49 employees     4.4%

- Medium firms:                                                             

• 50-249 employees     4.9%
• 250-499 employees     5.1%

- Large firms:                                                                

• 500+ employees     5.0%

To see Pay Insights by U.S. State, Gender, and Age for Job-Stayers, visit here.

* Sum of components may not equal total due to rounding.

The January total number of jobs added was revised from 183,000 to 186,000. The historical data file and weekly data for the previous month are available at https://adpemploymentreport.com/.

To subscribe to monthly email alerts or obtain additional information about the ADP National Employment Report, including employment and pay data, interactive charts, methodology, and a calendar of release dates, please visit https://adpemploymentreport.com/.    

The March 2025 ADP National Employment Report will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET on April 2, 2025.

About the ADP® National Employment Report™ The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure of the change in U.S. private employment and pay derived from actual, anonymized payroll data of client companies served by ADP, a leading provider of human capital management solutions. The report is produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

The ADP National Employment Report is broadly distributed to the public each month, free of charge, as part of the company's commitment to offering deeper insights of the U.S. labor market and providing businesses and governments with a source of credible and valuable information.

About ADP Research
The mission of ADP Research is to make the future of work more productive through data-driven discovery. Companies, workers, and policymakers rely on our finely tuned data and unique perspective to make informed decisions that impact workplaces around the world.

About ADP (NASDAQ – ADP)
Designing better ways to work through cutting-edge products, premium services and exceptional experiences that enable people to reach their full potential. HR, Talent, Time Management, Benefits and Payroll. Informed by data and designed for people. Learn more at ADP.com

ADP, the ADP logo, and Always Designing for People, ADP National Employment Report, ADP Research Institute and ADP Research are trademarks of ADP, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Copyright © 2025 ADP, Inc. All rights reserved.

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SOURCE ADP, Inc.

FAQ

How many jobs did ADP report for February 2025?

ADP reported an increase of 77,000 private sector jobs in February 2025, the smallest gain since July.

What was the annual pay increase for job-stayers according to ADP's February report?

Job-stayers saw an annual pay increase of 4.7% in February 2025.

Which sectors showed the largest job gains in ADP's February 2025 report?

Leisure/hospitality (+41,000), professional/business services (+27,000), and financial activities (+26,000) showed the largest gains.

How did regional employment change in ADP's February 2025 report?

The Northeast (+55,000) and Midwest (+56,000) showed growth, while the South (-12,000) and West (-27,000) experienced declines.

What was the employment change for small businesses in ADP's February report?

Small businesses (1-49 employees) lost 12,000 jobs in February 2025.