Produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, the report also noted that despite the slowdown in job growth, wage increases remained stable.
Pay gains for job-stayers held steady at 4.7 percent year-over-year, while job-changers saw a slight decline in wage growth from 6.8 percent in January to 6.7 percent in February.
The ADP report provides an independent snapshot of private-sector employment trends based on payroll data from more than 25 million U.S. workers.
Financial activities saw the strongest wage growth among job-stayers at 5.1 percent, followed by construction at 4.9 percent.
“Policy uncertainty and a slowdown in consumer spending might have led to layoffs or a slowdown in hiring last month,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said. “Our data, combined with other recent indicators, suggests a hiring hesitancy among employers as they assess the economic climate ahead.”
The goods-producing sector saw the largest gains, adding 42,000 jobs, with the construction industry leading the way at 26,000 new positions.
Manufacturing also contributed significantly, with 18,000 new jobs. However, natural resources and mining lost 2,000 jobs.
The service sector, which accounts for a large portion of U.S. employment, added only 36,000 jobs. Some industries experienced job losses, including trade, transportation, and utilities, which shed 33,000 positions, education and health services, which lost 28,000 jobs, and the information sector, which saw a decline of 14,000 jobs.
Conversely, financial activities added 26,000 jobs and professional and business services added 27,000. Leisure and hospitality had the strongest growth in the service sector, adding 41,000 jobs.
Regionally, employment gains were concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, with New England and the East North Central region leading the growth.
The South and West experienced job losses, with the Pacific region shedding 25,000 jobs. Small businesses, particularly those with fewer than 20 employees, continued to struggle, shedding 12,000 jobs overall.
Mid-sized businesses, those with 50 to 499 employees, led job creation by adding 46,000 positions, while large businesses with 500 or more employees contributed 37,000 jobs.
By company size, small firms with fewer than 20 employees reported the weakest wage growth, with a 2.8 percent increase. Medium-sized firms saw wage growth in the range of 4.9 to 5.1 percent, while large firms had a median wage increase of 5.0 percent.
The February figures suggest a cooling labor market, with hiring slowing down across multiple industries and regions. The report comes ahead of the official government employment data release, which is expected to provide further insights into labor market trends.
