Base pay rose 3.2%; gross pay was up 4.7%

ROSELAND, N.J., Sept. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Private-sector employment increased by 38,000 jobs in August, according to the ADP National Employment Report® produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab ("Stanford Lab").

For all private-sector workers in the United States, base pay rose 3.2% and gross pay was up 4.7% year over year, according to ADP Pay Insights.

Base pay for job-stayers rose 3.0% year-over-year; base pay for job-changers increased 4.7%.

Gross pay for job-stayers rose 4.4% year-over year; gross pay for job-changers increased 7.3%.

Beginning with today's release of the August 2026 data, ADP Pay Insights offers deeper analytics, expanded geographic data, and an interactive data platform. Key enhancements to the monthly report include tracking of the year-over-year change in base pay drawn from contracted pay rates in addition to the reported change in gross pay. Gross pay is drawn from base pay plus bonuses, commissions, tips, and other earnings. ADP Pay Insights also now reports pay trends for all workers, job-stayers and job-changers combined.

Data on base and gross pay is available for 56 U.S. metropolitan areas. Base and gross pay data also is available by worker mobility, demographics, sector, employer size, and pay quartile.

Base and gross pay each are valuable indicators of labor-market conditions. Base pay changes tend to be long-lasting, and any change in this structural metric can send a signal on labor-market tightness or inflationary pressure.

Gross pay measures total compensation generated by labor-market activity, data that can be used to assess income growth and consumer spending power. Changes in gross pay can tell us how employers are responding to atypical economic conditions.

ADP Pay Insights now offers deeper analytics, expanded geographic data reporting across 56 metropolitan areas and an interactive website platform to compare various datasets. Key enhancements to the monthly report include base pay growth and gross pay growth across geography, worker mobility, demographics, sector, employer size, and pay quartile.

The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure of the labor market based on the anonymized weekly payroll data of more than 26 million private-sector employees in the United States. ADP Pay Insights uses payroll transaction data to compare the wage growth of individual workers over 12-month intervals, resulting in more than 14.7 million year-over-year pay-change observations each month.

Together, these reports use ADP's finely-grained data to provide a representative and high-frequency picture of the private-sector labor market.

"Pay can tell us a lot about today's choppy hiring. To understand hiring patterns, you have to look deeply into where pay growth is accelerating, where it's slowing, and for whom," said Dr. Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP.

"Once predictable wage growth has been overtaken by complexities of demographic change, persistent inflation, and AI's effects on jobs," Richardson said. "Our new Pay Insights report, with its enhanced data, can more fully reveal the dynamics of today's labor market."

August 2026 Report Highlights

View the ADP National Employment Report and interactive charts at http://www.adpemploymentreport.com/.

EMPLOYMENT REPORT

Private employers added 38,000 jobs in August

Private employers posted their slowest pace of job creation since January. Manufacturing, professional services, and information shed jobs. Education and health care, construction, and leisure and hospitality all showed solid hiring.

Change in U.S. Private Employment: 38,000

Change by Sector

- Goods-producing: -10,000

Natural resources and mining -5,000
Construction 12,000
Manufacturing -17,000

- Service-providing: 48,000

Trade, transportation, and utilities -5,000
Information -4,000
Financial activities 6,000
Professional and business services -16,000
Education and health services 45,000
Leisure and hospitality 16,000
Other services 6,000

Change by U.S. Regions

- Northeast: 38,000

New England 12,000
Mid-Atlantic 26,000

- Midwest: 5,000

East North Central -15,000
West North Central 20,000

- South: 3,000

South Atlantic 14,000
East South Central -2,000
West South Central -9,000

- West: -8,000

Mountain -3,000
Pacific -5,000

Change by Establishment Size

- Small establishments: 3,000

1-19 employees 20,000
20-49 employees -17,000

- Medium establishments: 0

50-249 employees 2,000
250-499 employees -2,000

- Large establishments: 34,000

500+ employees 34,000

PAY INSIGHTS

ADP Pay Insights provides base pay growth and gross pay growth data across worker mobility, demographics, sector, employer size, pay quartile, and 56 U.S. metropolitan areas. The report also now offers pay growth distribution. Drawn from ADP's industry-leading workforce dataset, ADP Pay Insights uses payroll transaction data to provide a view on the wage dynamics of more than 14.7 million matched workers over a 12-month period.

"With its extended history, added dimensions of base pay and distribution, and granular metro information, Pay Insights more fully captures the pay structure of the U.S. labor market and how it's changing over time," said Liv Wang, lead data scientist, ADP Research.

"Our August release, for example, shows that pay growth has been decelerating for the past four years," Wang said. "Among lower-paid workers in particular, base pay growth has lost momentum and now is slower than it was prior to the pandemic."

Base pay growth slowed slightly in August

Pay growth for job-stayers was unchanged at 3 percent, while pay growth for job-changers edged down.

Gross pay growth slowed slightly in August

Pay growth for job-stayers was unchanged at 4.4 percent, while pay growth for job-changers slowed from 7.5 percent to 7.3 percent.

Visit our interactive platform for more information.

Median Change in Base Pay

All workers 3.2%
Job-stayers 3.0%
Job-changers 4.7%

Median Change in Gross Pay

All workers 4.7%
Job-stayers 4.4%
Job-changers 7.3%

Median Change in Base Pay by Sector

- Goods-producing:

Natural resources and mining 3.3%
Construction 4.0%
Manufacturing 3.5%

- Service-providing:

Trade, transportation, and utilities 3.3%
Information 3.1%
Financial activities 3.5%
Professional and business services 3.2%
Education and health services 3.0%
Leisure and hospitality 2.9%
Other services 3.0%

Median Change in Base Pay by Firm Size

- Medium firms:

50-249 employees 3.5%
250-499 employees 3.3%

- Large firms:

500+ employees 3.2%

To see Pay Insights by U.S. Metro, Gender, Age, and Pay Quartile, please visit https://payinsights.adp.com/.

The July total number of jobs added was revised from 44,000 to 46,000.

For additional information about the ADP National Employment Report, including historical files, employment and pay data, methodology, and a calendar of release dates, please visit https://adpemploymentreport.com/.

The September 2026 ADP National Employment Report will be released on September 30, 2026 at 8:15 a.m. ET.

About ADP Research

The mission of ADP Research is to make the future of work more productive through data-driven discovery. Companies, workers, and policy makers rely on our finely tuned data and unique perspective to make informed decisions that impact workplaces around the world.

To subscribe to monthly email alerts or obtain additional information about ADP Research, including employment and pay data, methodology, and a calendar of release dates, please visit https://www.adpresearch.com.

About ADP (NASDAQ:ADP)

ADP has been shaping the world of work with innovation and expertise for more than 75 years. As a global leader in HR and payroll solutions, ADP continuously works to solve business challenges for our clients and their workers, from simple, easy-to-use tools for small businesses to fully integrated platforms for global enterprises – and everything in between. Always Designing for People means we're focused on just that – people. We use our unmatched AI-driven insights and proven expertise to design innovative solutions that help people achieve greater success at work. More than 1.1 million clients across 140+ countries rely on ADP's exceptional service to support their people and drive their business forward. HR, Talent, Time Management, Benefits, Compliance, and Payroll. Learn more at ADP.com

ADP, the ADP logo, and Always Designing for People, ADP National Employment Report, and ADP Research are registered trademarks of ADP, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

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