Private-Sector Payrolls Rebound With 42,000 Jobs Added in October

Private-Sector Payrolls Rebound With 42,000 Jobs Added in October

Private-sector employers added 42,000 jobs in October, exceeding expectations and marking a turnaround from September’s decline of 29,000, according to the latest report from payroll services provider ADP and Stanford University’s Digital Economy Lab. The data suggest a modest rebound in hiring despite ongoing signs of labor market cooling across many industries.

Wage growth remained steady, with average annual pay increases holding at 4.5%, unchanged from the previous month.

“This was the first monthly increase since July, but hiring was modest relative to what we reported earlier this year,” said Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist. She added that pay growth “has been largely flat for more than a year,” signaling a better balance between labor supply and demand.

Based on anonymized payroll data from ADP client companies, several sectors posted notable gains in October. Trade and transportation led the way with 47,000 new positions, followed by education and health services (+26,000), financial services (+11,000), natural resources and mining (+7,000), and construction (+5,000).

However, job losses persisted in some industries. Information technology shed 17,000 positions, leisure and hospitality lost 6,000, and manufacturing declined by 3,000.