U.S. companies boosted employment in April

Companies in the U.S. added workers in April for a third month, according to data based on private payrolls.

The 32,000 increase was the most since January 2008 and followed a revised 19,000 gain the prior month, data from ADP Employer Services showed today. Over the previous six months, ADP's initial figures compared with the Labor Department's first estimate of private payrolls have overstated losses by as much as 151,000 in November and underestimated gains by 146,000 in March.

Companies from Caterpillar Inc. to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. are boosting staff to meet rising demand as consumers and businesses spend more. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News project the government's report May 7 will show payrolls increased in April, in part due to temporary hiring by the federal government to conduct the 2010 census.

"Private employment will add jobs, but slowly," Aaron Smith, a senior economist at Moody's Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said before the report. "Private hiring needs to accelerate to prevent a substantial softening in the labor market when census hiring ends this summer."

The ADP figures were forecast to show a gain of 30,000 jobs, according to the median estimate of 32 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Projections ranged from no change to an 80,000 rise.

Job cuts announced by U.S. employers plunged in April to the lowest level since July 2006, a sign the labor market is on the mend as the world's largest economy recovers, another report today showed.

Planned firings dropped 71 percent to 38,326 from 132,590 in April 2009, according to figures from Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. The reading was the second- lowest since June 2000.

The Labor Department's report in two days is forecast to show payrolls rose by 189,000 in April and the unemployment rate was 9.7 percent for a fourth consecutive month, according to the survey median. The jobless rate reached a 26-year high of 10.1 percent in October.

The economy lost 8.4 million jobs during the recession that began in December 2007, the most of any downturn in the post- World War II era. In March, U.S. payrolls rose by 162,000.

Today's ADP report showed a decrease of 18,000 workers in goods-producing industries including manufacturers and construction companies. Service providers added 50,000 workers.

Employment in construction fell by 49,000, while factories gained 29,000 jobs, ADP said.

Companies employing more than 499 workers expanded their workforces by 14,000 jobs. Medium-sized businesses, with 50 to 499 employees, added 17,000 jobs and small companies increased payrolls by 1,000, ADP said.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway company cut more than 20,000 jobs last year, said his company is now adding staff as the economic recovery boosts demand at its industrial units.

"We do hire people when we have something for them to do," Buffett told investors last week in Omaha, Nebraska, where Berkshire held its annual shareholders' meeting. "We are a net hirer now."

The ADP report is based on data from about 360,000 businesses with more than 22 million workers on payrolls. ADP began keeping records in January 2001 and started publishing its numbers in 2006.