742,000 private-sector jobs lost in March

[unixronin]

Payroll processor ADP says the private sector cut 742,000 jobs in March, the largest job loss it has recorded in its nine-year history.

In March, the goods-producing sector shed 327,000 jobs, the 27th consecutive decline. Manufacturing lost 206,000 jobs, while construction lost 118,000. Construction has now lost 1.1 million jobs since the peak more than two years ago.

The services sector lost a record 415,000 jobs in March.

ADP apparently projects its numbers from the 500,000 companies to whom it provides payroll and HR services.  Nevertheless, it seems their projections are pretty close to the mark; they projected 706,000 in February, and ended up revising that downwards to 697,000.  That’s only about a 1% correction.  But look what we’re saying here:  1.45 million private sector jobs lost in two months.  That’s about triple the rate for this time last year.  How long can this continue?

(Pointer via koyote)

Comments

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

Oh, until there aren't any jobs left at all?

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

Exactly. When we finally get rif od the Last Pesky Job In America, we wil have defeated this..whatever-sion.

[milktree.livejournal.com]

This is slightly misleading, because one of ADP's services is to "contract" people to their customers. Which is to say, if you're a company that doesn't want to deal with payroll, your employees are technically employees of ADP, contracted to whomever you actually work for.

When the company I work for lays people off, ADP gets the "layoff" credit/penalty, since the people are technically working for them.

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

Oh good, so then we didn't lose 742,000 jobs in March. That was a daunting figure.

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

*laughing*

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure what your point is. The article's not saying "ADP laid off 742,000 people in March." It's saying, "Based on layoffs from its 500,000 client companies, ADP is projecting that the private sector as a whole lost 742,000 jobs in March."

Or are you saying that the "provides payroll and HR services to" part is misleading?

[milktree.livejournal.com]

....

Oh, no, I misread the original post.

Oops...

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

It can, and will, continue until we can compete head on with other nations for goods and services that we produce. I don't want to compete on price alone, that would be devastating. I want to compete on productivity and efficiency. We can sell that!

In the mean time, as long as children that grow up in a neighborhood cannot afford to live there, we are setting ourselves up for a massive fail. Like now.