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Private Sector Cuts 742,000 Jobs in March, ADP Says (with video)
Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. labor market worsened again in March, as private-sector firms cut 742,000 jobs, signaling another terrible employment report on Friday, according to the ADP employment index released Wednesday.
It was the largest job loss recorded by ADP in its nine-year history.
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The report comes two days before the Labor Department reports its estimate for nonfarm payrolls.
"The pace of job destruction continues to accelerate, which is underscored by the weakness in this report," wrote Ian Pollick, an economist for TD Securities. "The U.S. labor market is emphatically weak, and there is no April-fooling about that."
In March, the goods-producing sector shed 327,000 jobs, the 27th consecutive decline. Manufacturing lost 206,000 jobs, while construction lost 118,000. Construction has now lost 1.1 million jobs since the peak more than two years ago.
The services sector lost a record 415,000 jobs in March.
The ADP index does not include government jobs. To get an apples-to-apples comparison with the Labor Department report, you have to add in about 12,000 jobs typically gained in the public sector. That suggests total payrolls fell by 730,000 in March, compared with the MarketWatch consensus of 663,000 for the Labor Department's estimate. See Economic Preview.
"Despite some recent indications that stock prices, consumer spending, and housing activity may be bottoming out, employment, which usually trails overall economic activity, is likely to remain very weak for at least several more months," said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomics Advisers, the economic consulting firm that computes the index from anonymous payroll data provided by ADP.
The February ADP index was revised down by 9,000 to a loss of 706,000 compared with the 697,000 initially reported.
In March, small businesses (those with less than 50 employees) cut 284,000 jobs.
Large businesses (with more than 500 employees) cut 128,000 jobs, while medium-sized businesses cut 330,000 in March.
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The ADP sample is taken during the same week of the month as the government's survey, using similar methods. 
Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch.