Private payroll rise to 296,000 in April - ADP

Investing.com -- The number of workers hired by private employers in the U.S. rose by more than expected in April, complicating an emerging picture of a cooling labor market in the world's largest economy.

Private payrolls jumped by 296,000 during the month, up from a downwardly revised level of 142,000 in March, according to the ADP National Employment report on Wednesday. The gain was the biggest since July, and topping economists' predictions of 148,000.

Kathy Jones, chief fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab, noted in a tweet that while the ADP figure came in "way above" projections, investors are likely "waiting for payrolls," referring the closely watched jobs report due out on Friday from the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Economists currently project that total nonfarm payrolls increased by 179,000 in April following an increase of 236,000 in the prior month.

Recent data is suggesting that demand for workers in the American labor market may be starting to ease under a regime of elevated interest rates and a reduction in bank lending in the wake of turmoil in the financial services sector. Job vacancies in the country dropped to 9.590 million on the last business day of March, numbers from the Labor Department showed earlier this week, down from 9.974M in February. It was the lowest reading in almost two years.