By sector, the service-providing sector added 158,000 jobs, down from a downwardly revised 182,000 in September.
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Private payroll gains in September were revised down to 190,000 from an originally reported 200,000 increase. Even if the USA had a high rate of workforce participation and a low number of sidelined workers, this wouldn’t be a good month, and the United States economy has neither of those conditions. At the same time, hiring in the manufacturing sector is expected to remain soft, extending the zero net job growth seen since January.
Private payrolls in the US increased by 182,000, said payroll processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. and forecasting firm Moody’s Analytics. Small business, 1 to 49 employees, added 90,000 jobs with establishments having less than 20 employees adding 50,000 of those jobs.
“Job growth as measured by the ADP Research Institute is not slowing meaningfully, in contrast with the recent slowdown in the government’s data”, Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said in a statement accompanying the report. It was the same story in August, as the ADP report overshot the government’s numbers by roughly 46,000.
In the manufacturing sector, where employers have been shedding jobs as a stronger dollar, weaker energy prices and a weaker global economy has hit demand, the number of positions fell by 2,000 after dropping by 17,000 in September. Medium-sized businesses, with 50 to 499 employees, added 63,000 jobs in October; large businesses with 500 or more employees added 29,000 jobs.
Goods-producing industries, which include manufacturers and builders, increased headcounts by 24,000, the ADP report showed.
ADP’s report is based on data gathered from businesses that have approximately 24 million workers on their payrolls combined.
Economic growth in the third quarter slowed to 1.5 percent from the 3.9 posted in the spring.
Federal Reserve policymakers have hinted they could raise a key interest rate in December and that the jobs reports the next two months will be a major factor in their decision.
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Regardless of the statistical differences between ADP and the BLS, these payroll figures are a sign of not things to come, although the loss of manufacturing jobs is America’s biggest open wound.
