ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 155,000 Jobs in March; Annual Pay was Up 4.6%

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Apr 02, 2025, 08:15 ET

ROSELAND, N.J., April 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Private sector employment increased by 155,000 jobs in March and annual pay was up 4.6 percent year-over-year, according to the March 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.

"Despite policy uncertainty and downbeat consumers, the bottom line is this: The March topline number was a good one for the economy and employers of all sizes, if not necessarily all sectors," said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP.

March 2025 Report Highlights*

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

JOBS REPORT

Private employers added 155,000 jobs in March
Manufacturing delivered stronger-than-average job gains for the second straight month. Construction hiring slowed. Natural resources and trade, transportation, and utilities lost jobs.

Change in U.S. Private Employment: 155,000

Change by Industry Sector

- Goods-producing: 24,000

Natural resources/mining -3,000
Construction 6,000
Manufacturing 21,000

- Service-providing: 132,000

Trade/transportation/utilities -6,000
Information 3,000
Financial activities 38,000
Professional/business services 57,000
Education/health services 12,000
Leisure/hospitality 17,000
Other services 11,000

Change by U.S. Regions

- Northeast: 89,000

New England 57,000
Middle Atlantic 32,000

- Midwest: 81,000

East North Central 76,000
West North Central 5,000

- South: 27,000

South Atlantic 7,000
East South Central 24,000
West South Central -4,000

- West: -41,000

Mountain -12,000
Pacific -29,000

Change by Establishment Size

- Small establishments: 52,000

1-19 employees 42,000
20-49 employees 10,000

- Medium establishments: 43,000

50-249 employees 34,000
250-499 employees 9,000

- Large establishments: 59,000

500+ employees 59,000

PAY INSIGHTS

Pay gains slowed in March
Year-over-year pay gains slowed to 4.6 percent for job-stayers and to 6.5 percent for job-changers. The pay premium for job-changers was 1.9 percentage points, matching a series low last seen in September.

Median Change in Annual Pay (ADP matched person sample)

- Job-Stayers 4.6%
- Job-Changers 6.5%

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

Natural resources/mining 4.3%
Construction 4.7%
Manufacturing 4.8%

- Service-providing:

Trade/transportation/utilities 4.3%
Information 4.0%
Financial activities 5.3%
Professional/business services 4.4%
Education/health services 4.7%
Leisure/hospitality 4.7%
Other services 4.4%

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

1-19 employees 2.9%
20-49 employees 4.2%

- Medium firms:

50-249 employees 4.8%
250-499 employees 5.0%

- Large firms:

500+ employees 4.9%

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 February total number of jobs added was revised from 77,000 to 84,000. 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 April 2025 ADP National Employment Report will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET on April 30, 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 the 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

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SOURCE ADP, Inc.