As the U.S. continues to climb out from the slowly fading (but definitely not gone) COVID-19 pandemic, a new report from the private payroll company ADP says that a staggering 978,000 jobs were added across the private sector in the United States in May.
ADP’s top economist, Nela Richardson, commented as follows:
‘Private payrolls showed a marked improvement from recent months and the strongest gain since the early days of the recovery. Companies of all sizes experienced an uptick in job growth, reflecting the improving nature of the pandemic and economy.’
Economists had apparently expected an addition of just 680,000 jobs in May, although it’s worth noting that the ADP report is distinct from Labor Department reporting of jobs numbers, and the federal jobs report for May is not yet available. There were significant differences between the ADP and Labor Department reports for April. For that month, ADP said that 654,000 new jobs had been created in the private sector, but the Labor Department reported just 266,000, which was well below expectations.
Still, the trendline of increasing economic recovery seems pretty solid at this point as the Biden administration continues the development and implementation of its ambitious economic recovery and growth plans. The COVID-19 economic relief package known as the American Rescue Plan, which Biden signed into law earlier this year, has provided vast swathes of financial support for Americans, from direct checks to an expanded child tax credit that is set to be available as a direct payment to parents at times outside of tax season.
In the new ADP report, the leisure and hospitality sector added 440,000 new jobs after months on end of turmoil induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who worked in hospitality faced serious economic threats brought on by demands for potential patrons to stay home. Notably, the new ADP report also says that the education and health services sector added 139,000 new jobs in May, and getting children safely back in school has been another looming goal met with apparent steadily increasing success. Biden is hoping to soon get an ambitious infrastructure spending package enacted, which would entail the creation of accessible jobs across the country when putting that proposal’s specific provisions, like rural internet expansion, into action.
