The U.S. private sector saw employment increase by 42,000 jobs in October, marking the first gain since July, according to the ADP National Employment Report, produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.
While job growth returned, it was modest and not broadly distributed across all sectors and firm sizes. The report also found that annual pay growth for job-stayers remained largely flat at 4.5% year-over-year.
October’s hiring rebound was concentrated in a few key areas, with several large sectors and smaller firms continuing to shed jobs.
- Leading Sectors: The most significant gains were seen in Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (up 47,000) and Education and Health Services (up 26,000).
- Job Losses: For the third consecutive month, jobs were shed in Professional/Business Services (down 15,000), Information (down 17,000), and Leisure/Hospitality (down 6,000).
- Firm Size Disparity: Nearly all the job growth was driven by Large establishments (500+ employees), which added 73,000 jobs. In contrast, both Small (-10,000) and Medium (-21,000) establishments saw overall employment decline.
Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, noted the balance in the labor market: “Private employers added jobs in October for the first time since July, but hiring was modest… Meanwhile, pay growth has been largely flat for more than a year, indicating that shifts in supply and demand are balanced.”
Pay insights from the report show that the median change in annual pay remained consistent with the previous month:
| Category | Median Change in Annual Pay |
| Job-stayers | 4.5% |
| Job-changers | 6.7% |
Pay increases were highest in the Financial Activities sector (5.2%) and lowest in Other Services (4.1%) for job-stayers. Additionally, pay growth for employees at Large Firms (500+ employees) was the highest at 4.9%, while those at the smallest firms (1-19 employees) saw the lowest increase at 2.5%.
The total number of jobs added in September was also revised upward from a loss of 32,000 to a loss of 29,000.
