Private data has shown that payrolls at companies in the U.S. grew at a solid pace in the second month of the year while announced layoffs increased, ahead of the official report later this week, according to The Wall Street Journal. On Wednesday, Automatic Data Processing and Macroeconomic Advisers reported that private sector jobs increased by 217,000 in the U.S. during February, outpacing economists’ forecast for a gain of 170,000 after adding 189,000 in January. The bulk of the hires were at medium- and small-sized companies, with businesses employing more than 500 workers only adding 13,000 jobs.
The report confirmed that job growth has been quickening in recent months, with the average of new jobs added each month since December now totaling 217,000, compared with an average gain of just 63,000 in the six months to November. Economists are forecasting for an official gain of 200,000 for private payrolls in the Labor Department report to be released on Friday. Meanwhile, a separate report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed that announced layoffs for U.S. companies increased in February for the second month in a row to 50,702 in February from 38,519 the month prior, marking the highest total in almost a year.