ADP says businesses create the most new jobs in 15 months. Labor market might be thawing.

Dow Jones05-06

MW ADP says businesses create the most new jobs in 15 months. Labor market might be thawing.

By Jeffry Bartash

Hiring is still weak by historical standards

It's taking longer for job seekers to find work.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

ADP said U.S. businesses create 109,000 new jobs in April - the biggest increase in 15 months - in a sign a partly frozen labor market might be thawing out after months of unusually tepid hiring.

Wall Street forecasters had predicted a 84,000 increase in private-sector jobs last month.

""Small and large employers are hiring, but we're seeing softness in the middle," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, the U.S.'s largest processor of company payrolls.

ADP is a lead act of sorts for the official U.S. employment report due Friday morning. Economists predict a 55,000 increase in new jobs in April based on information collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The ADP and BLS reports can vary widely from month to month, as they did in March, but they move in the same direction over time.

The BLS report is more comprehensive and, unlike ADPI, it includes government workers.

Big picture: The economy isn't creating as many jobs as it used to, but it doesn't need to, either. The working-age population is barely growing due to an aging workforce and strict immigration controls.

Yet there's still plenty of people who want and need jobs, but they are struggling to find one. Businesses have been more cautious about adding to their labor costs due to rising expenses from tariffs and energy prices.

Hiring probably won't improve much until the Iran conflict ends and oil prices subside.

Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and S&P 500 SPX were set to rise in Wednesday trading. Stocks have been reaching trading at or near record highs for the past few weeks.

-Jeffry Bartash

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 06, 2026 08:22 ET (12:22 GMT)

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ADP says businesses create the most new jobs in 15 months. Labor market might be thawing.

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