The U.S. Added 63,000 Jobs Last Month. Here Are the Industries That Are Hiring—and the Ones Cutting Workers

The ADP report showed the strongest private hiring in seven months, beating Wall Street expectations.

BY LEILA SHERIDAN, NEWS WRITER

Private-sector hiring picked up in February after a sluggish start to the year, but the gains were concentrated in just a few corners of the economy.

U.S. companies added 63,000 workers in February, the strongest monthly gain in seven months, according to payroll processor ADP’s employment report released Wednesday. The figure marked a sharp rebound from January’s downwardly revised 11,000 jobs and topped the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 48,000, CNBC reported.

Still, the data suggests that hiring momentum remains fragile. Much of February’s job growth came from just two sectors, underscoring how uneven the labor market has become.

Education and health services added 58,000 jobs, making it the largest driver of hiring for the month. Construction followed with 19,000 new positions, according to ADP.

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Together, those industries offset stagnation or declines across most other sectors.

Outside those two areas, hiring was largely flat. Information services added 11,000 jobs, while several major industries shed workers. Professional and business services lost 30,000 positions, the largest drop of any category. Manufacturing employment fell by 5,000 jobs, continuing a downward trend despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to revive domestic factory employment through tariffs. Trade, transportation, and utilities declined by 1,000 jobs, ADP reported.

The report also showed a shift in where job growth is happening across company sizes.

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