Private sector employment increased by 568,000 jobs in September, despite concerns about the economy and the COVID-19 delta variant, according to the closely watched ADP National Employment Report released today.
The ADP September report showed especially brisk hiring in the U.S. services sector, where 466,000 net payrolls came back last month, compared to 329,000 service jobs added in August. The biggest contributor to September’s gains was the leisure and hospitality industry, where employers added back 226,000 jobs.
The goods-producing sector also saw a strong uptick in hiring, with payroll gains rising by 102,000 to more than double the 45,000 jobs brought back in August. Job gains in education and health services, and professional and business services, each also came in above 60,000. Manufacturing and construction jobs each rose by nearly 50,000.
Large companies with 500 or more employees created 390,000 new jobs in September, while medium-sized companies added 115,000 new jobs. Small businesses with 50 or fewer employees added 63,000 jobs, according to the report.
“The labor market recovery continues to make progress despite a marked slowdown from the 748,000-job pace in the second quarter,” ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said in a statement.
“Leisure and hospitality remains one of the biggest beneficiaries to the recovery, yet hiring is still heavily impacted by the trajectory of the pandemic, especially for small firms,” Richardson said “Current bottlenecks in hiring should fade as the health conditions tied to the COVID-19 variant continue to improve, setting the stage for solid job gains in the coming months.”
Today’s report marked a ninth consecutive month of private payroll growth in the U.S. economy, reflecting a labor market that is recouping jobs lost over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ADP’s monthly report, produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics, is derived from ADP’s actual data of the number of people on a company’s payroll. It measures change in total nonfarm private employment monthly on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The U.S. Labor Department’s official September jobs report, which uses a different methodology that counts the number of people paid during the survey period, will be released on Friday morning.
