NEW YORK (Financial Times) -- The U.S. private sector shed 491,000 jobs in April, according to a closely-watched survey of business employment on Wednesday, a sign that while the job losses remain high, the free-fall may be slowing.

Results from the monthly ADP Employer Services survey, which tracks private non-farm payroll employment, were better than expected and followed ADP’s March report estimating a revised 708,000 jobs lost. The result was ADP’s lowest estimate of monthly job cuts since last October.
ADP changed the methodology of its survey last December after it significantly undershot the U.S. government’s labor report. Last month’s result overshot the official figures, which showed that 663,000 jobs were lost in March compared with ADP’s original estimate of 742,000.
A scattering of better-than-expected data has emerged from the U.S. economy in the last two months, prompting cautious optimism among some U.S. politicians, including U.S. President Barack Obama, who said last month that there were “glimmers of stabilization” in the economy. On Tuesday Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said demand in the U.S. “may be stabilizing”, in guardedly optimistic remarks that suggest the recession is likely to end this year.
Although the ADP figure was much better than economists were expecting, many were quick to put the results in perspective.
“By any measure except the past few months a 491K drop in private payrolls is disastrous, but at least it is less disastrous than before,” Ian Sheperdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics said.
However, Mr. Sheperdson said he was lowering his forecast for the official payroll report to show that 500,000 jobs were cut last month, down from his previous estimate of 650,000.
The employment survey showed that the goods-producing sector was hit the hardest last month, shedding 262,000 workers. The services sector lost 229,000 jobs, while 159,000 manufacturing jobs were cut and 95,000 construction jobs were lost.
Medium-sized businesses slashed jobs the most aggressively last month, shedding 231,000 workers. Meanwhile small companies, with less than 50 employees, cut 183,000 workers and big companies, with more than 500 workers, shed 77,000.
The official non-farm payrolls report, due on Friday, is expected to show 610,000 jobs lost in April, bringing the unemployment rate to 8.9 percent.