UPDATE: U.S. Private-Sector Employment Increased by 133,000 Jobs in May, According to ADP

Private-sector employment increased by 133,000 from April to May on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report® released today. The ADP National Employment Report, created by Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP®), in partnership with Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, is derived from actual payroll data and measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month. The estimated gain from March to April was revised down modestly, from the initial estimate of 119,000 to a revised estimate of 113,000. According to today's ADP National Employment Report, employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose 133,000 from April to May on a seasonally adjusted basis. Employment in the private, service-providing sector rose 132,000 in May, after rising a revised 119,000 in April. Employment in the private, goods-producing sector added 1,000 jobs while manufacturing employment declined by 2,000 in May, its second consecutive monthly decline. Construction employment fell by 1,000, the second consecutive decline following six monthly advances, likely driven in part by unusually warm weather during the winter months. The financial services sector added 8,000 jobs from April to May. According to Joel Prakken, Chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, "While May's increase was the twenty-eighth consecutive monthly advance, it nonetheless reflected a notable slowdown in the recent pace of hiring. The sharpness of the deceleration seems consistent with other incoming data suggesting the economy, weighed down by heightened uncertainty over the European financial crisis and by growing concerns about domestic fiscal policy, slowed early in the year." Prakken added: "The modest rise in private employment suggests that the national unemployment rate probably did not decline in May unless the labor force continued to decline. Hence, today's estimate, especially if reinforced by a weak reading on employment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, likely will fuel concern that the economy is slowing fundamentally for the third summer in a row." Employment levels among medium-sized payrolls -- those with 50 to 499 workers -- rose by 57,000. Employment on large payrolls -- those with 500 or more workers -- increased by 9,000 jobs. The matched sample used to develop the ADP National Employment Report was derived from ADP data, which, during 2011, averaged about 344,000 U.S. business clients and represented over 21 million U.S. employees. This approximately represents the size of the matched sample used this month.