532,000 May job cuts ADP reports

Although there have been signs that the economy is improving, employers still appear to be focused on cost-cutting.

Payroll firm ADP reported Wednesday that companies in the U.S. cut an estimated 532,000 workers from payrolls last month. ADP also revised higher its estimate of cuts in April to 545,000 from the previous estimate of 491,000.

The ADP report noted losses across all sizes and categories of businesses with large business payrolls declining 100,000, medium businesses shedding 223,000 jobs and small businesses cutting 209,000 employees. The goods-producing sector lost 267,000 jobs while the service-producing sector declined by 265,000 positions.

The Labor Department is due to release its jobs report on Friday. The average analyst estimate for that report of government as well as private payrolls is a loss of 520,000 payroll positions and an increase in the unemployment rate to 9.2 percent from April’s rate of 8.9 percent.

On Monday, The Institute for Supply Management announced that its factory index rose to the highest level since last September as new orders posted their first gain since the recession began. On Tuesday the National Association of Realtors reported that pending sales of existing homes, or contracts signed but not closed, rose 6.7 percent in April, the largest increase in six years.