Companies sharply slowed hiring in the month of April amid market fluctuations and the rollout of President Trump’s latest tariff plan, a new report from Always Designing for People (ADP) found.
In April, companies across the U.S. added 62,000 jobs. It was significantly less than the 147,000 added during the month of March, per the report.
“Unease is the word of the day,” ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said in a statement. “Employers are trying to reconcile policy and consumer uncertainty with a run of mostly positive data.”
“It can be difficult to make hiring decisions in such an environment,” Richardson added.
Many of the jobs created in the last month are in service-providing sectors, which saw a gain of 34,000 jobs. While the information, business, education and health sectors lost jobs, gains were made in trade, transportation, utilities and financial activities sectors, the data shows.
In the goods-producing sectors, natural resources, construction and manufacturing all saw gains in April with 26,000 new jobs.
Most jobs were created in the Midwest region, with 42,000 jobs added, while the South saw the lowest employment growth over the last month, with just 3,000 new jobs, the report found.
ADP’s analysis comes after it was reported that U.S. gross domestic product fell during the first quarter of 2025 as the surge of imports ahead of Trump’s tariffs upended economic growth predictions.
While April’s outlook showed companies are slower to hire than previous months amid the economic uncertainty, the month did experience some increases in hiring and pay. Pay increased for those staying in their positions by 4.5 percent, ADP found.
The gains are still not at impressive as reported in March, when numbers signaled a solid labor market ahead of the April 2 “Liberation Day” tariff announcement from Trump.
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