Jobapalooza

ADP calling March job cuts at 742k.

The private sector lost more than 700,000 jobs in March, according to payroll-processing firm Automatic Data Processing, but a separate report released Wednesday suggested that the pace of job cuts may be slowing.

The ADP report, which is based on payroll data from 500,000 U.S. businesses, said the private sector eliminated 742,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in March. That up 36,000 from last month's revised figure of 706,000.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting a loss of 663,000 private sector jobs.

Separately, Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported that the number of planned job cuts announced in March fell for the second straight month.

Job cut announcements by U.S. employers totaled 150,411 in March, a decline of 19.3% from February's 186,350 cuts, which was down from a seven-year high in January, according to Challenger.

Just means they are nickel and diming employees to death with 50,000 companies laying off 10 people, not 10 companies laying off 50,000 at a pop, guys. Wise up.