WASHINGTON – Companies added 182,000 workers in October, signaling steady improvement in the U.S. job market, according to a private report based on payrolls.
The increase in employment followed a revised 190,000 rise in the prior month, figures from the ADP Research Institute in Roseland, New Jersey, showed Wednesday. The median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an advance of 180,000.
An expansion in headcounts that leads to faster wage growth will probably help accelerate consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy. Labor Department data on Friday may show private payrolls climbed by about 170,000 workers last month, following a slowdown in the prior two months.
“American companies are continuing to hire at a pretty healthy rate,” said Sal Guatieri, a senior economist in Toronto at BMO Capital Markets, who projected a 180,000 gain. “It’s reflecting strong growth in the U.S. economy. Strong job growth will reinforce a healthy trend in consumer spending.”
Estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from gains of 140,000 to 230,000. The prior month’s figure was previously reported as an advance of 200,000.
Goods-producing industries, which include manufacturers and builders, increased headcounts by 24,000, the ADP report showed. Hiring in construction climbed by 35,000, while factories cut 2,000 jobs.
Payrolls at service providers increased by 158,000.
“The economy is creating close to 200,000 jobs per month,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said in a statement. Moody’s produces the figures with ADP. “Job gains are broad-based with energy and manufacturing alone subtracting from the top line. Small businesses, in particular, are contributing to the labor market’s solid performance.”
Companies employing 500 or more workers added 29,000 jobs. Medium-sized businesses, with 50 to 499 employees, boosted payrolls by 63,000 and small companies took on 90,000 workers.
The ADP report is based on data from businesses with almost 24 million workers on their combined payrolls.
The October jobs report, to be issued by the Labor Department, may show private businesses added more employees in October than they did a month earlier when they took on 118,000 workers, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Overall payrolls, which include government agencies, may have climbed by 182,000 workers after rising 142,000 the prior month, Bloomberg survey projections also showed. The unemployment rate probably fell to 5 percent, the lowest since 2008.
Federal Reserve policymakers, who have said they may begin to raise the benchmark interest rate this year from near zero, are watching for signs of further improvement in the labor market.
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