Washington, United States – US employers stepped up their pace of hiring in February, payroll firm ADP said Wednesday, in a further indication that more effort may be needed to cool the world’s biggest economy.
Private sector employment surged by 242,000 jobs in February, around double the revised 119,000 figure in January and significantly more than analysts expected, the latest ADP report said.
This follows a series of recent indicators showing that hiring remained strong, consumer spending resilient and inflation persistent — despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame price increases.
“We’re seeing robust hiring, which is good for the economy and workers, but pay growth is still quite elevated,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, in a statement.
“The modest slowdown in pay increases, on its own, is unlikely to drive down inflation rapidly in the near-term,” she cautioned.
In February, pay growth slowed to 7.2 percent compared with a year ago and for workers who changed jobs, wage growth eased as well to 14.3 percent.
