ADP rolls out weekly US payrolls after halting data to Fed

ADP Research will now be releasing U.S. payroll data on a weekly basis, in addition to its monthly report, to provide high-frequency insights into the labor market.

The figures, which are a four-week moving average of the latest total private employment change, will be released on Tuesdays at 8:15 a.m. New York time. ADP estimates payrolls increased 14,250 on average in the four weeks ended Oct. 11, according to a statement Tuesday.

Up until recently, ADP provided a version of weekly payrolls to the Federal Reserve, which policymakers used to gain insight into the private-sector job market. But the payroll services firm stopped providing the data, which covers about 20% of the U.S. private labor force, after an Aug. 28 speech by Fed Governor Christopher Waller that referenced the statistics, Bloomberg News reported.

It isn’t clear why the data-sharing arrangement was suspended. Senator Elizabeth Warren asked the company what prompted the move in a letter Monday, urging the firm to make the data publicly available — at least while the government is shut down.

Data from third-party sources have been particularly valuable since the government shutdown began earlier this month, prompting the agencies that produce economic statistics to suspend official data releases. Other firms like LinkedIn Corp. and Revelio Labs also provide views on the job market.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which publishes the government’s monthly jobs report, will likely have to delay publication of its October employment figures, scheduled for release Nov. 7. ADP will continue to publish its monthly estimate, with the October report due Nov. 5.

“For nearly two decades we have provided our valuable labor market data to the public at no cost through the ADP National Employment Report,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in the statement. “ADP’s near real-time employment data, released weekly, will now provide an even clearer picture of the labor market at this critical time for the economy.”

Fed officials are expected to lower interest rates at their policy meeting this week to bolster a cooling U.S. labor market. Government and private-sector data has shown employers downshifted hiring in recent months and demand for workers has eased.

Companies including Amazon.com Inc., General Motors Co. and Applied Materials Inc. in recent weeks have announced plans to lay off workers, though broader layoffs remain limited, according to state-level weekly filings for unemployment insurance.

ADP’s figures, which are produced in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, are based on weekly payroll data of more than 26 million private-sector employees.