The private sector added 208,000 jobs from October to November, according to payroll giant ADP, reflecting steady growth in the economy.
Small businesses added 101,000 jobs last month, including 48,000 at businesses with between one and 19 employees, and 53,000 at small businesses with between 20 and 49 employees. However, the small business job gains were down slightly from 103,000 in October.
Midsize businesses with between 50 and 499 employees gained 65,000 jobs in November, but that was down significantly from 122,000 in October.
Large businesses added 42,000 jobs in November—a big increase from 7,000 in October. The 42,000 included 10,000 jobs added at companies with between 500 and 999 employees, and 32,000 at businesses with 1,000 employees or more.
Most of the job gains came in the service sector, which added 176,000 jobs. The goods-producing sector accounted for 32,000 jobs.
The professional and business services sector, which includes accounting, tax preparation and other services, gained 37,000 jobs in November. The financial activities sector added 5,000 jobs.
The construction industry added 17,000 jobs over the month, well below last month’s gain of 27,000. The manufacturing industry added 11,000 jobs in November, down slightly from October’s 13,000. The combined trade, transportation and utilities sector added 49,000 jobs. In addition, franchise businesses gained 25,000 jobs in November.
“It was another good report this month,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and head of the ADP Research Institute, during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “The labor market continues to make steady progress, enough to generate jobs for unemployed workers while actually accommodating the growing labor force. The 208,000 net new private sector jobs generated in November are about twice as many as needed to satisfy the growing working age population. It’s great momentum. We have been getting about 200,000 jobs a month on a monthly basis on a fairly consistent basis for the past 12 months. It’s just a remarkably stable pace of job creation. The gains were broad based across industries. All sectors and all firm sizes added to net gains.”
She noted that nearly half the job gains came from small businesses. Access to credit has improved for many small businesses, enabling them to expand, and there is growing data showing that banks have eased their lending standards.
Yildirmaz said ADP is also seeing some early indications of wage growth after a long period of stagnant wages following the recession. She anticipates that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will start to reflect similar data early next year.
“We also expect the wage growth to pick up,” she added. “Overall the job market is tightening, and that’s very important to wages.”
“Steady as she goes in the job market,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics,which compiles the national employment report with ADP. “Monthly job gains remain consistently over 200,000. At this pace the unemployment rate will drop by half a percentage point per annum. The tightening in the job market will soon prompt acceleration in wage growth.”
