The U.S. shed fewer jobs from March to April than from February to March, according to the National Employment Report released today by Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NYSE: ADP). The report said U.S. lost 491,000 private-sector nonfarm jobs between March and April, on a seasonally adjusted basis. U.S. employment fell by 708,000 from February to March, according to an updated number in the report.

From March to April, the report estimates the service sector lost 229,000 jobs and the goods-producing sector lost 262,000 jobs.

Medium-sized businesses posted the lion's share of job losses at 231,000, according to the report. Small businesses shed 183,000 jobs, and employment declined by 77,000 at large businesses.

Data in the ADP report is derived from an anonymous subset of roughly 500,000 U.S. business clients.