Employment in the US private sector rose by 184,000 jobs in March, an increase from the upwardly revised 155,000 in February, according to the ADP National Employment Report released today. March’s increase was the biggest jump in hiring since July 2023.

The increase in hiring was led by the leisure and hospitality sector.

“March was surprising not just for the pay gains but [for] the sectors that recorded them. The three biggest increases for job-changers were in construction, financial services and manufacturing,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in a press release. “Inflation has been cooling, but our data shows pay is heating up in both goods and services.”

Also, after months of steady deceleration, the report found flat growth in pay for March. The median change in annual pay for those switching jobs rose for the second consecutive month to 10% from 7.6% in February.

For those staying in their jobs, the median change in annual pay remained flat at 5.1%.

The report also found that small businesses gained 16,000 jobs in March, while midsize and large establishments added 93,000 and 87,000 jobs, respectively.

Here are the estimates of employment growth by industry:

• Goods-producing, up 42,000
  • Natural resources/mining, up 8,000
  • Construction, up 33,000
  • Manufacturing, up 1,000
• Service-providing, up 142,000
  • Trade/transportation/utilities, up 29,000
  • Information, up 8,000
  • Financial activities, up 17,000
  • Professional/business services, down 8,000
  • Education/health services, up 17,000
  • Leisure/hospitality, up 63,000
  • Other services, up 16,000

Total private-sector employment in the US was nearly 131.6 million in March, according to the report.

The ADP National Employment Report, produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, uses ADP’s anonymized and aggregated payroll data of more than 25 million US employees to provide a representative picture of the labor market. The report details the current month’s total private employment change and weekly job data from the previous month.