Payroll-processing firm ADP and their partner Moody's Analytics released the January employment report today, announcing that the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in the nonfarm private sector. According to president and chief executive officer of ADP Carlos Rodriguez, this increase "is in line with the average monthly growth throughout 2013."
Although the 175,000 jobs may represent the average monthly growth in 2013, January caps a three-month trend of decline, starting with a peak in November (289,000 jobs added) and continuing with a fall in December (227,000 jobs added).
The construction industry followed this national trend, with an decent increase of 25,000 jobs over the month, which came on the heels of the revised figures of 32,000 and 30,000 in the prior two months, but is well above industry trends of 15,000 construction jobs added per month.
The manufacturing industry, on the other hand, took a hit last month with a loss of 12,000 jobs. This decline follows December's revised increase of 16,000 and is the first decline in industry payrolls since July 2013.
Service-providing industries added 160,000 jobs in January, down from the revised December figure of 177,000. ADP reports that professional and business services, a broad category that most likely includes architects and engineers, contributed the most growth in service-providing industries, adding 49,000 jobs. This number falls short of the average gain of 65,000 in the prior two months.
"Cold and stormy winter weather continued to weigh on the job numbers. Underlying job growth, abstracting from the weather remains sturdy. Gains are broad based across industries and company sizes, the biggest exception being manufacturing, which shed jobs, but that is not expected to continue," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics in a press release.
Zandi claimed last month that he expects job growth to average around 225,000 in 2014 and he holds steady to that number again this month despite an employment report that was well below that number. "I do expect things to pick up ... I do expect 2014 to be a breakout year," he said in a conference call.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report is scheduled for release on Friday morning, providing more detailed information about the economic state of the construction and architecture fields.
