ADP: U.S. Private Sector Added 227K Jobs in October, Easily Beating Forecast

The ADP National Employment report finds the U.S. private sector added 227,000 jobs in October, easily beating the 178,000 median forecast. Wall Street was only looking for 189,000 and the gains were widespread.

Analysts for ADP said the tight labor market is putting upward pressure on wages and benefits.

“Despite a significant shortage in skilled talent, the labor market continues to grow,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute.”We saw significant gains across all industries with trade and leisure and hospitality leading the way. We continue to see larger employers benefit in this environment as they are more apt to provide the competitive wages and strong benefits employees desire.”

Small business with 1-49 employees added 29,000 private sector jobs, while mid-sized (50-499) and large (≥500) added 96,000 and 102,000 jobs, respectively. The goods-producing sector added 38,000 and the service-providing sector added 189,000.

“The job market bounced back strongly last month despite being hit by back-to-back hurricanes,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said. “Testimonial to the robust employment picture is the broad-based gains in jobs across industries. The only blemish is the struggles small businesses are having filling open job positions.”

Natural Resources & Mining added 8,000 private sector jobs, while Construction and Manufacturing both added 17,000.