October’s private sector job growth hit the highest level since July 2023, per ADP’s Employment Report, which showed that employers added a much larger than expected 233,000 new jobs. In addition, the breadth of job creations was broad based, with only the manufacturing sector shedding jobs. ADP called hiring “robust and broadly resilient” as we head toward the new year.
What’s the bottom line?
Despite the strong headline number, small businesses continue to struggle, as those with fewer than 50 employees only added 4,000 jobs. This is compared to 226,000 new jobs added among medium and large companies combined. Annual pay gains also continued to decelerate for both job-stayers (+4.6% from +4.7%) and job changers (+6.2% from +6.7%), reflecting a decline in wage-pressured inflation.