US private payrolls slow in April; trade deficit hits record high

US private payrolls slow in April; trade deficit hits record high

US private employers hired the fewest workers in two years in April, likely hampered by persistent labour shortages, raising the possibility that overall job growth slowed last month. The ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday showed a broad slowdown in hiring, with job gains in the leisure and hospitality industry also the smallest since late 2020. Companies with less than 50 employees saw a decline in payrolls. “While hiring demand remains strong, labour supply shortages caused job gains to soften,” said Nela Richardson, ADP chief economist. “As the labour market tightens, small companies with fewer than 50 employees, struggle with competition for wages amid increased costs.” Private payrolls rose by 247,000 jobs last month, the smallest gain since April 2020. Data for March was revised higher to show 479,000 jobs added instead of the 455,000 initially reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private payrolls would increase by 395,000 jobs. The ADP report is jointly developed with Moody’s Analytics and was published ahead of the release on Friday of the labour Department’s more comprehensive and closely watched employment report for April. It has, however, a poor record predicting the private payrolls count in the department’s Bureau of labour Statistics employment