The U.S. economy added 125,000 new jobs this month, surpassing economists’ expectations and forecast of 100,000 new positions, ADP and Moody’s Analytics noted Wednesday.
The Labor Department’s official jobs report is due on Friday, but analysts and economists expect it will show similar growth.
The greatest growth — 64,000 jobs — occurred among medium-sized businesses, the report said.
ADP-Moody’s noted further that large businesses added 44,000 workers to their payrolls while small businesses expanded by a healthy 17,000.
However, the producing sector saw losses of 13,000 jobs.
“Job growth has throttled way back over the past year,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said in a statement. “The job slowdown is most pronounced at manufacturers and small companies. If hiring weakens any further, unemployment will begin to rise.”
“While job growth continues to soften, there are certain segments of the labor market that remain strong,” Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, added, noting gains in the healthcare industry, UPI noted.
But at about 3.7 percent unemployment, the country is close to full employment, other analysts have said, noting that under current conditions, job growth would necessarily slow down because there aren’t enough workers available for existing positions.