Private employers added 86,000 jobs in October, ADP payroll report says, ahead of federal jobs report Friday

Private employers added 86,000 jobs in October, ADP said Wednesday, Nov. 4, in its National Employment Report, produced by ADP Research with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The company revised its September total from 90,000 to 86,000.¹

The report is a private estimate, not the federal government's jobs report. ADP says it rests on anonymized payroll data for more than 26 million private-sector employees.¹ The release calls it "an independent measure of the labor market."¹ The Bureau of Labor Statistics' calendar lists its Employment Situation report for October for Friday, Nov. 6, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.²

Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist, said "Employers of all sizes were hiring last month" and that job-changers' earnings growth "hit its fastest pace since March 2024", citing bonuses, overtime and more hours as well as higher base pay.¹ ADP's summary said professional and business services lost jobs for a third straight month.¹

By industry

Goods-producing employers added 4,000 jobs and service providers added 82,000, ADP said. The October changes by industry:¹

• Natural resources and mining: -8,000
• Construction: 13,000
• Manufacturing: -1,000
• Trade, transportation and utilities: 39,000
• Information: -2,000
• Financial activities: 15,000
• Professional and business services: -27,000
• Education and health services: 28,000
• Leisure and hospitality: 19,000
• Other services: 10,000

By establishment size and region

Establishments of 1-19 employees added 21,000 jobs and those of 20-49 added 7,000. Establishments of 50-249 added 22,000, those of 250-499 added 11,000 and those of 500 or more added 24,000.¹

By region, the report shows 47,000 jobs added in the South, 28,000 in the West, 9,000 in the Midwest and 3,000 in the Northeast.¹

Pay

ADP's pay figures are median year-over-year changes for individual workers, from its Pay Insights data, which the company says yields more than 14.7 million pay-change observations each month. Base pay and gross pay are separate measures.¹

• Base pay: all workers 3.2%; job-stayers 3.0%; job-changers 4.8%
• Gross pay: all workers 4.7%; job-stayers 4.4%; job-changers 7.6%

ADP described base pay growth as little changed in October. By sector, the largest median base pay change it listed was 4.0% in construction. By firm size, it listed 3.5% for 50-249 employees, 3.3% for 250-499 and 3.2% for 500 or more.¹

Next releases

ADP scheduled its November report for Dec. 2 at 8:15 a.m. Eastern time.¹

What the records do not show

• The federal figures for October are not out, so this report cannot be compared with them yet.²
• The release gives no reasons for the job changes other than Richardson's remarks on job-changers' pay, and no margin of error.¹
• The size categories as published sum to 85,000 and the regions to 87,000, not 86,000. The release does not explain the difference.¹
• The release does not give the March 2024 earnings figure or the prior months for professional and business services. ADP's report site, adpemploymentreport.com, returned no readable text when we opened it, and we did not open its historical data file or the Pay Insights site, so we did not check either statement or read ADP's technical notes.¹
• The release lists no base pay figure for firms under 50 employees.¹