ADP has had a leading market share amongst payroll servicing companies within the United States for many years. One may reasonably think they would be in a good position to measure and report on employment trends relating to new hires and job losses within the private sector. In fact, ADP seemed to have a similar thought in the mid-aughts, as they launched their own employment report in 2006.
The report is typically released on the Wednesday prior to the official federal government employment report, which has traditionally been released on the first Friday of each month. For about six years, the report regularly diverged significantly from the federal government’s report, and I can remember there being a good bit of complaining about the differences during that period. Was the report confusing people as to what to “believe?”
It turns out “reality” was not worth the trouble, as in 2012 ADP outsourced the report to Moody’s Analytics, and charged them with recalibrating the methodology to better align with the federal government’s official report. When reality becomes a pain in the ass, then why not just join the kayfabe?