Private payrolls fall 20.2M in April

April ADP Jobs Report: -20.2M vs. -20M consensus, -149K prior (revised from -27K).

The report utilizes data only through April 12, says ADP, and does not reflect full impact of COVID-19 on the employment situation. Indeed. In the first two weeks after April 12, another 8.3M filed for first-time unemployment, with another 3M expected to be seen in this week’s report.

The ADP’s Ahu Yildirmaz: “Job losses of this scale are unprecedented,” with April’s decline alone more than double total numbers lost during the Great Recession.

The service sector was hit hardest with 16M job loss (leisure/hospitality -8.6M), while the manufacturing sector lost 4.3M.

Small businesses lost 6M jobs, including 3.36M for those with 1-19 employees, and 2.6M for those with 20-49 employees.

A couple of subsectors posted modest job gains in April – Education up 28K and Management of companies/enterprises up 6K.

The government’s nonfarm payroll data is due on Friday morning, with economists expecting a job loss of 21.5M and the unemployment rate seen rising to 16%.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3570006-private-payrolls-fall-20_2m-in-april