MW Businesses boost hiring in March even as tariff talk creates economic uncertainty, ADP says

By Jeffry Bartash

Private-sector hiring speeds up

U.S. businesses boosted hiring in March despite all the uncertainty in the economy caused by the Trump administration tariffs, suggesting the jobs market is still in good shape and weathering the storm for now.

Private-sector companies added 155,000 jobs last month, payroll company ADP said, up from a revised 84,000 in February.

The increase was larger than expected. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast a gain of 120,000 new jobs in the ADP survey.

The ADP report is the first major survey of the labor market to capture all efforts by the Trump White House in February and March to downsize the federal workforce and impose stiff tariffs.

"Despite policy uncertainty and downbeat consumers, the bottom line is this: The March topline number was a good one for the economy and employers of all sizes, if not necessarily all sectors," said NelaRichardson, chief economist at ADP.

The ADP report does not include federal workers.

The labor market by most indications is still in very good health. Unemployment is low at 4.1% and layoffs in the private sector are also sparse.

Yet all the tumult created by Trump's rapid-fire changes have caused many companies to delay or go slow with their plans until they get a clearer view of how their own businesses and the broader economy will be affected.

Some Wall Street firms have even raised their recession forecasts, though few really expect a downturn in the next year.

ADP has not been a good predictor historically of the government's official jobs estimate that follows a few days later, but the two reports do move in the same direction over time.

The government on Friday is expected to show an increase of 140,000 new jobs in March, according to a Wall Street Journal poll of economists.

In premarket trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and S&P 500 SPX were set to decline in Wednesday trading.

-Jeffry Bartash

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April 02, 2025 08:24 ET (12:24 GMT)

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