Job Creation Remains Weak
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – While the unemployment rate has slowly been ticking downward across the country and in the Sunshine State, the number of new jobs being added to the economy continues to dwindle.
According to payroll processor ADP, private employers added just 119,000 jobs last month. In addition, March's numbers were adjusted down to 131,000 from an originally estimated 158,000. The slowdown was spread across most industries.
The number of jobs added in April was the lowest total in seven months. The numbers from ADP come out in advance of the government's official unemployment report. Economists had originally forecast the economy would create 160,000 jobs in April, but some have now reduced their totals.
According to Moody's Analytics, items including a hike in Social Security taxes and the sequester are partially behind the slowdown. The cuts along with tax increases and other spending cuts could result in the biggest drag on the econonmy since the end of World War II, according to the Associated Press.
The economy grew at a rate of 2.5 percent through March, which was a big increase over the 0.4 percent growth for the final three months of the year.
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