By Kathleen Madigan
With the government shutdown skewing economic activity in the
first half of October, U.S. businesses added jobs at a mediocre
pace this month, according to a tally of private-sector hiring
released Wednesday.
Private-sector jobs in the U.S. increased by 130,000 in October
according to the national employment report compiled by payroll
processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and forecasting firm
Moody's Analytics.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected ADP to
report a much larger October gain of 150,000 jobs. The September
ADP employment increase was revised to just 145,000 from 166,000
reported a month ago.
"The government shutdown and debt limit brinksmanship hurt the
already softening job market in October," the report said.
The ADP estimate is typically released ahead of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics' employment situation report on the following
Friday. But the federal government shutdown has delayed the release
of the October nonfarm payrolls data until Nov. 8.
With the payrolls report delayed, the ADP report becomes one of
the most timely measures of the labor markets. It is being released
on the same day the Federal Reserve finishes up its meeting to set
monetary policy.
The October ADP report shows the job market is struggling this
month. The tenor of the report supports the consensus view that the
Fed will not announce tapering its bond-buying program after its
two-day meeting ends later Wednesday.
According to ADP, firms employing between 1-49 workers increased
payrolls by 37,000 in October. Medium-sized businesses with
payrolls of 50-499 workers added just 13,000 employees. Large
firms, businesses with 500 or more employees, hired 81,000 more
workers.
Service-sector jobs increased by 107,000 last month, while the
factory sector added just 5,000 new positions. Financial services
cut another 5,000 jobs.
ADP, of Roseland, N.J., offers payroll processing, human
resource and benefit administration services to about 600,000
clients worldwide. Economics firm Moody's Analytics is a subsidiary
of Moody's Corporation.
Write to Kathleen Madigan at kathleen.madigan@wsj.com