Hiring as measured by a key gauge of private-sector payrolls rose by 213,000 in September, according to the ADP National Employment Report released on Wednesday.
The boost in hiring is slightly above the expectations of mainstream economic forecasters and bodes well for the official federal government report on employment due on Friday. August’s government jobs report disappointed, and Wednesday’s read of private-sector payrolls suggests September hiring was better.
“ADP employment provided no confirmation of the slower payrolls gain in August and points to another solid increase in payrolls in September,” economists for RDQ Economics in New York wrote in a note to investors. “This adds to our opinion that the August payroll data published by the (government) will be revised up over the next two employment reports—consistent with the pattern of the last five years.”
Wednesday’s ADP report showed hiring across the spectrum of businesses, with firms employing less than 50 workers adding 88,000 jobs and large firms with more than 500 workers adding another 77,000. Manufacturing employment rose by 35,000 last month, the best showing since May 2010, according to RDQ Economic.
The strong ADP report left economists projecting the growth in hires in the government report Friday to be north of 200,000.
“Underlying job growth is running at around 200,000 per month, well above the amount needed to keep up with underlying labor force growth,” said Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services. “This, in turn, is driving job and income gains, leading to more consumer spending, in turning driving further job growth.”