ADP: Private Sector Adds 208,000 Jobs; Annual Pay Up 8%

In the second of four major jobs reports this week, ADP, Roseland, N.J., said private-sector employment increased by 208,000 jobs in September, while annual pay slowed to just below 8 percent.

The ADP National Employment report said by size, small businesses (1-49 employees) added 58,000 jobs in September; medium businesses (50-499 employees) added 90,000 jobs and large businesses added 60,000 jobs. The report said service-sector employers added 237,000 jobs in December, while goods-producing businesses saw a net loss of 29,000 jobs.

“There are signs that people are returning to the labor market,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist with ADP. “We’re in an interim period where we’re going to continue to see steady job gains. Employer demand remains robust and the supply of workers is improving–for now.”

On the pay side, the report noted job changers, who had been seeing double-digit year-over-year gains since summer 2021, lost momentum in September. Their annual pay rose 15.7 percent, down from a revised 16.2 percent gain in August, the biggest deceleration in the three-year history of ADP data. For job stayers, annual pay rose 7.8 percent in September from a year ago, up from a revised 7.7 percent in August.

On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) reported job openings plunged by more than 10 percent in August—a sign that the U.S. labor gap is starting to normalize.

This morning (8:30 a.m. ET), the Labor Department releases its weekly Initial Claims report. Ane on Friday (8:30 a.m. ET), BLS releases its monthly Employment Situation report for August.

MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni will provide commentary and analysis on the Friday jobs report in the Monday, Oct. 10 edition of MBA NewsLink.