‘Rip-roaring’ US economy creates 241,000 more jobs in March, says survey

The ADP reading was better than the 205,000 Wall Street analysts had been expecting

The biggest sector for jobs growth in March was ‘professional and business services’ (Reuters)

The US economy enjoyed another “rip-roaring” month of job creation in March, according to a new survey.

The National Employment Report by ADP Research Institute estimated that the American private sector added 241,000 net new jobs in the month, following on from 246,000 in February.

That was better than the 205,000 Wall Street had been expecting.

“The job market is rip-roaring,” said Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics about the figures.

“Monthly job growth remains firmly over 200,000, double the pace of labour force growth. The tight labour market continues to tighten.”

The two biggest sectors for jobs growth, according to ADP, were “professional and business services”, followed by “trade, transport and utilities”.

The official US jobless rate stands at 4.1 per cent, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS).

The BLS will release its official estimate for nonfarm (a compiled name for goods, construction and manufacturing companies in the US) payrolls in March on Friday.

Analysts have forecast a figure of 192,000, and for the jobless rate to tick down to 4 per cent,

Annual wage growth is expected to rise from 2.6 per cent to 2.7 per cent.

Another strong jobs report would prompt traders to increase their bets on more rapid interest rate hikes by the US central bank, the Federal Reserve.

Last month the Fed raised rates to 1.75 per cent, citing a tightening domestic employment market.

The median forecast among Fed officials for the total number of 2018 rate rises was three, but some traders think there could ultimately be more.