U.S. Companies Shed 27,000 Workers in March, ADP Data Show

Employment at U.S. firms declined in March for the first time since 2017, as sweeping closures at small businesses began to take their toll on workers.

Businesses’ payrolls dropped by 27,000 after a downwardly revised 179,000 gain a month earlier, according to ADP Research Institute data released Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists had called for a decline of 150,000. The report reflects conditions in early March to align with Labor Department figures, and doesn’t include bigger job losses that occurred later in the month.