ADP Reports 177,000 Rise in Private Payrolls

Private U.S. employers continued to hire solidly in April, but the growth slowed from recent months as the economy returns to full employment.

Firms across the country added 177,000 workers to their ranks last month, according to payroll processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. and forecasting firm Moody's Analytics. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected an increase of 175,000.

"Despite a dip in job creation, the growth is more than strong enough to accommodate the growing population as the labor market nears full employment," said Ahu Yildirmaz vice president of the ADP Research Institute.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics said job growth slowed primarily due to a pullback in construction and retail jobs.

March's jobs gain, initially reported at 263,000, was cut slightly to 255,000. The ADP report is based on private payroll data in addition to lagged behind government data.

Write to Imani Moise at imani.moise@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 03, 2017 09:09 ET (13:09 GMT)