July 7, 2023: On Thursday, the U.S. labor market offered no indications of letting up in June, as companies created far more jobs than anticipated, payroll processing firm ADP reported.

Personal jobs surged by 497,000 for the month, well ahead of the downwardly adjusted 267,000 gains in May and much better than the 220,000 Dow Jones consensus estimate. The increase resulted in the most significant monthly increased since July 2022.

From a sector perspective, leisure and hospitality led with 232,000 new hires, observed by construction with 97,000, and trade, transportation, and utilities at 90,000.

Annual pay increased at a 6.4% rate, representing a continued slowing still indicative of brewing inflationary pressures.

“Consumer-facing service industries had a strong June, aligning to push job creation higher than anticipated,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.

“But wage growth continues to ebb in these same industries, and hiring likely is cresting after a late-cycle surge.”

The unexpected jump in payrolls comes despite more than a year’s worth of Federal Reserve interest rate increases aimed in large part to cool a jobs market in which there are still nearly two open positions for every available worker.

ADP’s count comes a day ahead of the more closely administered nonfarm payrolls brief from the Department of Labor. That is expected to increase by 240,000 after a 339,000 gain in May. While the two reports can differ broadly, the ADP numbers pose some upside risk for Friday’s report.

Other industries seeing solid gains included education and health services, natural resources and mining, and the “other services” classification.

Manufacturing yielded 42,000 jobs, while information was off by 30,000, and financial activities saw a decline of 16,000.

Service providers contributed 373,000 of the totals, while goods producers added 124,000.

Companies with less than 50 employees were responsible for most job growth, adding 299,000 positions. Firms with over 500 workers lost 8,000 jobs, while mid-size companies contributed 183,000.