Private sector employment growth remained strong in October, with gains spread across sectors, as the labor market showed new signs of stabilization, ADP reported on Wednesday.
The payroll firm said companies added 86,000 jobs in the month, the same as September’s downwardly revised total and slightly above the Dow Jones estimate of 75,000.
Employment growth occurred primarily in the services sector.
Trade, transport and public works added 39,000 new jobs, education and health services added 28,000, and leisure and hospitality added 19,000. Other sectors that showed increases include financial activities (15,000 cases), construction (13,000 cases) and other services (10,000 cases).
However, some of the increase was offset by a decline of 27,000 jobs in professional and business services and a loss of 8,000 jobs in natural resources and mining. The information services sector, a sector potentially affected by the increase in artificial intelligence, lost 2,000 jobs.
Career changers’ salaries in particular continued to increase, with career changers’ salaries increasing by 4.8% annually. Job turnover, a measure of labor market fluidity, has reached its highest level since March 2025, according to a report released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Base pay for all workers increased by 3.2%, and total pay increased by 4.7% for the year. Wages for those who kept their jobs rose by 3%.
“Employers of all sizes have been hiring over the last month, and our data shows job-hoppers are attracted to:
“This combination of base pay increases, plus bonuses, overtime pay and increased hours worked, will take these workers’ incomes to the fastest pace of growth since March 2024,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.
Businesses with 50 to 499 employees added 33,000 jobs. Large businesses increased by 24,000, and small businesses increased by 28,000.
The ADP report serves as a precursor to BLS nonfarm payrolls numbers to be released on Friday.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect the October BLS report to show an increase of 59,000 jobs, following a modest increase of 29,000 jobs in September.
