ADP Sees Private Sector Hiring Jump in November

Jobs in the private sector shot up by 206,000 in November, according to payroll giant ADP, outperforming most forecasts.

Job increases occurred in nearly every sector. ADP reported Wednesday that small businesses with less than 50 employees saw an increase of 110,000 jobs, while midsized businesses of between 50 and 499 employees added 84,000 jobs, and large businesses with 500 employees or more added 12,000 jobs,

Gains occurred in both the service sector and the goods-producing sector, with 178,000 jobs added in the service-providing sector and 28,000 in the goods-producing sector. Employment in the financial services sector rose by 7,000.

“Today’s number [of 206,000] is above expectations,” said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, which compiles the monthly employment reports with ADP. “It certainly is an encouraging report. The strength of this number is pretty much evident throughout all the slices of the data.”

Only among large businesses in the goods-producing sector was there any sign of a slowdown, he noted. Analysts had expected job gains of approximately 130,000, according to consensus forecasts.

ADP also revised upward its previous number of job gains in October from 110,000 to 130,000 (see ADP Sees 110,000 New Jobs in Private Sector in October).

Prakken noted that the figures released Wednesday do not include hiring for the holiday season as they are seasonally adjusted. He said he anticipates the figures that will be released on Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to also beat the analysts’ consensus forecasts, although the official numbers will probably be somewhat lower than ADP’s as they also include government hiring. “State and local governments are still shedding employees,” he said.

However, Prakken believes the economy has managed to skirt the threat of a double-dip recession.  “We know unemployment claims are coming down,” he said. “That’s encouraging. People are becoming more optimistic. The number of people voluntarily quitting their current jobs is starting to move up. That’s typically a sign [that the economy] is improving.”

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