By Kathleen Madigan
Private businesses added a modest number of workers than
expected in September, according to a report released
Wednesday.
Private-sector jobs in the U.S. increased 162,000 last month,
according to a national employment report calculated by payroll
processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and consultancy
Macroeconomic Advisers.
The September number was slightly above the 153,000 expected by
economists. The August estimate was revised down to 189,000 from
201,000 reported last month.
The ADP survey tallies only private-sector jobs. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics' nonfarm payroll data, to be released Friday,
include government workers whose ranks have been falling in recent
years as state and local governments have laid off staff to close
budget gaps.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expect total nonfarm
payrolls added 118,000 jobs in September, and the jobless rate is
projected to remain at 8.1%.
Forecasters are unlikely to change their projections for
Friday's payrolls in part because ADP has had big misses in recent
months. Last month, for instance, the ADP's 201,000 estimate was
well above the 103,000 private jobs and 96,000 total new jobs
reported by the BLS.
The latest ADP report showed large businesses with 500 employees
or more hired 17,000 employees in September, while medium-size
businesses added 64,000 workers and small businesses that employ
fewer than 50 workers hired 81,000 new workers.
Service-sector jobs increased by 144,000 last month, but factory
jobs increased by just 4,000.
ADP, of Roseland, N.J., says it processes payments of one in six
U.S. workers. Macroeconomic Advisers, based in St. Louis, is an
economic-consulting firm.
Also on Wednesday, TrimTabs Investment Research said it
estimated a large 210,000 new jobs were created in September.
Trimtabs uses daily tax deposits to calculate the monthly change in
payrolls.
TrimTabs says the BLS may be missing the current acceleration in
job growth because the government doesn't do a good job of tallying
new hires among small- and medium-sized businesses where 84% of
recent employment growth has occurred.
Write to Kathleen Madigan at kathleen.madigan@dowjones.com