Private-sector employment in the US rose by 242,000 jobs in February, according to the ADP National Employment Report released today.

“There is a tradeoff in the labor market right now,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “We're seeing robust hiring, which is good for the economy and workers, but pay growth is still quite elevated. The modest slowdown in pay increases, on its own, is unlikely to drive down inflation rapidly in the near term.”

Here are the jobs added in February by sector:

• Goods-producing, up 52,000
  • Natural resources/mining, up 25,000
  • Construction, down 16,000
  • Manufacturing, up 43,000
• Service-providing, up 190,000
  • Trade/transportation/utilities, up 3,000
  • Information, up 9,000
  • Financial activities, up 62,000
  • Professional/business services, down 36,000
  • Education/health services, up 35,000
  • Leisure/hospitality, up 83,000
  • Other services, up 34,000

The ADP National Employment Report, produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, is an independent estimate of the change in US private employment and pay derived from actual, anonymized payroll data of client companies served by ADP.