by Calculated Risk on 3/06/2019 08:20:00 AM

From ADP:

Private sector employment increased by 183,000 jobs from January to February according to the February ADP National Employment Report®. ... The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis.
...
“We saw a modest slowdown in job growth this month,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Midsized companies have been the strongest performer for the past year. There was a sharp decline in small business growth as these firms continue to struggle with offering competitive wages and benefits.”

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “The economy has throttled back and so too has job growth. The job slowdown is clearest in the retail and travel industries, and at smaller companies. Job gains are still strong, but they have likely seen their high watermark for this expansion.”

This was close to the consensus forecast for 180,000 private sector jobs added in the ADP report. 

The BLS report for January will be released Friday, and the consensus is for 178,000 non-farm payroll jobs added in February.