U.S. Private Sector Job Creation Accelerated in October -- ADP

By Xavier Fontdegloria

Hiring among U.S. employers accelerated in October, suggesting that the labor market recovery is gaining steam on improving health conditions as the Covid-19 Delta variant wave winds down.

The U.S. nonfarm private employment increased by 571,000 in October, data from ADP National Employment Report showed Wednesday, above the 395,000 rise forecast by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

In September, the U.S. private sector created 523,000 jobs, less than the 568,000 payrolls initially estimated.

"The labor market showed renewed momentum last month," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. October's data is higher than the average of 385,000 monthly jobs added in the third quarter, she said.

Large businesses, those of at least 500 workers, created 342,000 jobs in October, the data showed. Small businesses, with a maximum of 49 employees, registered 115,000 payroll gains; and medium-sized businesses, between 50 and 499 employees, added 114,000 jobs.

By sector, 458,000 jobs were created among services providers. Among those, 185,000 were added in the leisure and hospitality sector. Jobs in the goods-producing sector were up by 113,000, with 54,000 in construction, 53,000 in manufacturing and 6,000 in natural resources and mining.

"Service-sector providers led the increase and the goods sector gains were broad based, reporting the strongest reading of the year," Ms. Richardson said.

The report, carried out by the ADP Research Institute along with Moody's Analytics, is based on data through the 12th of the month.

"As long as the pandemic remains contained, more big job gains are likely in coming months," Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said.

The U.S. Department of Labor is expected to release its employment report for October, which covers the same period as the ADP National Employment Report, on Friday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal are expecting it to show nonfarm payrolls up by 450,000 for the month and the unemployment rate down to 4.7%. The ADP series can diverge considerably from the Labor Department's data.

Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 03, 2021 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)

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