Hiring remains strong, but wage growth is low, ADP says

May 3 (UPI) -- Hiring remains strong in the U.S. economy, though those re-entering the workforce are getting paid less, data Wednesday from private payroll processor ADP showed.

ADP data showed private-sector employees added 296,000 people added to U.S. payrolls in April, a rebound from March, when employment fell almost 100,000 to 236,000.

Wages, however, are weakening.

"Pay growth continued its nearly year-long slowdown," ADP's report for April read. "Job changers in particular saw a dramatic decline, with pay slowing from 14.2% growth to 13.2%, the slowest pace of growth since November 2021."

Hiring data from ADP contrasts somewhat with recent data from the federal government. The Labor Department on Tuesday reported the lowest number of job openings in the past two years.

The monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed 9.59 million job openings at the end of March, down from 9.97 million reported in February. While job openings shrank, layoffs and discharges increased by 248,000 to more than 1.8 million.

The JOLTS report is one of the reports used by the Federal Reserve to judge the overall health of the U.S. economy and the rate of inflation. More hires would suggest the Fed has more work to do, though policies meant to cool consumer-level inflation may be working as planned given recent data pointing to a mild recession in the U.S. economy.

"The slowdown in pay growth gives the clearest signal of what's going on in the labor market right now," Nela Richardson, the chief economist at ADP, said. "Employers are hiring aggressively while holding pay gains in check as workers come off the sidelines. Our data also shows fewer people are switching jobs."