The U.S. private sector shed 27,000 jobs in March, according to a report by payrolls processor ADP, before the worst of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. labor market was seen.

Economists had expected the report to show a much larger loss of 150,000 jobs. February’s figure was revised to 179,000 from the 183,000 initially reported.

The ADP numbers come ahead of the Labor Department's nonfarm payrolls report for March on Friday, which includes both public and private-sector employment.

Due to the timing of the survey period for Friday’s report it likely preceded the worst of the impact on the labor market. Economists still expect the figures to show a loss of 100,000 jobs.

Ahead of that, Thursday’s jobless claims report is expected to show another huge surge of new claims for unemployment benefits in the week to March 28, after they leaped to a record 3.28 million in the preceding week.

Source : Investing.com