The U.S. economy added 235,000 private, non-farm jobs in October according to the monthly employment report released this morning by payroll-management firm ADP and its partner Moody's Analytics. The seasonally adjusted result is 125,000 positions greater than September's downwardly revised addition of 110,000 jobs, and marks a 112,421-position increase over the previous September, when 122,579 jobs were created.
"The job market rebounded strongly from the hit it took from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics in a press release. "Resurgence in construction jobs shows the rebuilding is already in full swing. Looking through the hurricane-created volatility, job growth is robust."
Small businesses—those with one to 49 employees—gained 79,000 jobs. Within that figure, firms that employ fewer than 20 people gained 43,000 jobs, and firms that have 20 to 49 employees added 36,000 jobs.
Mid-sized businesses—those with 50 to 499 employees—added 66,000 jobs in October. Large businesses accounted for the largest share of employment gains by company size last month with 90,000 added positions. Businesses employing 500 to 999 people added 20,000 positions last month, while companies with 1,000 or more employees accounted for 77 percent of employment growth for large businesses, adding 70,000 of the total 90,000 jobs added by large businesses in October.
"The job market remains healthy and hiring bounced back with one of the best performances we've seen all year," said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute in the release. "Although the service providing sector was hard hit last month due to the weather, we saw significant growth in professional services, especially in the higher paid professional technical jobs. Additionally, small businesses rebounded well from the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, posting very strong gains."
By sector, the service-providing sector—which has anchored the ADP's job report for eight consecutive months—contributed 63.8 percent (150,000) of October's job gains. The service-providing sector includes jobs in trade/transportation/utilities; information; financial activities, professional and business services; education and health; leisure and hospitality; and other services. Five of the seven sub-sectors experienced growth in October, with only the trade/transportation/utilities and information sub-sectors reporting a decrease of 50,000 and 27,000 jobs, respectively. This is the second consecutive month these sectors have lost jobs.
The professional and business services sub-sector—which includes architecture and engineering firms—has been on an upward trajectory since March. In October, employment picked up again, with 109,000 jobs added in professional and business services, accounting for 72.6 percent of all new jobs added in the service-providing sector.
The goods-producing sector, which includes jobs in natural resources and mining, construction, and manufacturing, added 85,000 jobs in October—showing continued improvement since June when the sector reported net-zero job growth after significant losses in construction and natural resources employment. The construction and manufacturing sub-sectors saw payroll additions of 62,000 and 22,000, respectively in October. Natural resources and mining added 1,000 jobs again in October, after reporting the same increase in September.
ADP's national employment report is often used as a precursor for the monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report, which, for October, will be released this Friday.
For more information, read the full employment report from ADP.
