US: ADP Employment Change comes in at +278K in May vs. 170K expected

• Employment in US private sector rose more than expected in May.
• US Dollar Index stays in daily range above 104.00 after the data.

The data published by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) showed on Thursday that private sector employment in the US rose by 278,000 in May. This reading surpassed the market expectation of 170,000 by a wide margin. The 296,000 increase recorded in April got revised lower to 291,000.

Regarding wage developments, "last month brought a broad-based slowdown in pay increases. Job changers saw a gain of 12.1%, down a full percentage point from April," the ADP noted. "For job stayers, the increase was 6.5 percent in May, down from 6.7%."

Commenting on the report's findings, “this is the second month we've seen a full percentage point decline in pay growth for job changers,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “Pay growth is slowing substantially, and wage-driven inflation may be less of a concern for the economy despite robust hiring.”

Market reaction

With the initial reaction, the US Dollar Index edged slightly higher and was last seen trading flat on the day near 104.20.