ADP says private employment totals a stunning 233,000 in October, well above expectations

Private-job creation exploded in October to the highest level in more than a year, despite a devastating storm season and major labor disruptions in the Southeast, ADP reported Wednesday.

The payroll processing firm said companies hired 233,000 new workers in the month, better than an upwardly revised 159,000 in September and well above the Dow Jones estimate of 113,000. ADP said July was the best month for job creation since 2023.

“Even amid the hurricane recovery, job growth was strong in October,” said ADP Chief Economist Nella Richardson. “As we close out the year, U.S. hiring is proving solid and largely resilient.”

The numbers beat expectations for a slowdown in October due to two brutal hurricanes – Helen and Milton – that devastated the Southeast, including Florida and North Carolina in particular.

On top of that, with port workers expected to suffer labor disruptions and Boeing wages to take a hit, some economists suggested October would be an outlier report that Federal Reserve officials would largely dismiss when they meet next week.

But the ADP report indicated that the labor market was holding up. In addition to hiring growth, wages rose 4.6% from a year earlier.

In addition, the profits were massive. Top sectors included education and health services (53,000), trade, transportation and utilities (51,000), construction and leisure and hospitality, which added 37,000, and professional and business services, which contributed 31,000.

Manufacturing was the only sector to report losses, down 19,000 in the month, as a Boeing strike since Sept. 13 sidelined the company's 33,000 workers.

Job creation was strongly concentrated in companies with 500 or more employees, which added 140,000 to the total. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees were little changed, contributing only 4,000 people to the total.

The ADP report traditionally includes the more closely watched nonfarm payrolls count from the Labor Service Bureau. The report, due on Friday, projected an increase of just 100,000 and the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.1%.

However, ADP and BLS reports can differ significantly, with the latter including government workers. The BLS report showed a 223,000 gain in private employment and a 254,000 increase in total payrolls in September.