October’s gain matched the downwardly revised September total and came in ahead of the Dow Jones estimate of 75,000 jobs. The report is a precursor to the government’s nonfarm payrolls count due Friday.
Hiring was concentrated in services: trade, transportation and utilities added 39,000 jobs; education and health services added 28,000; and leisure and hospitality added 19,000. Financial activities (15,000), construction (13,000) and other services (10,000) also added jobs. Those gains were partly offset by a decline of 27,000 in professional and business services, a loss of 8,000 in natural resources and mining, and a drop of 2,000 in information services, a sector that could be affected by the artificial intelligence buildout.
Pay for workers changing jobs rose 4.8 percent annually. ADP’s chief economist, Nela Richardson, said the firm’s data suggests job-changers were lured by a combination of bonuses, overtime and more hours in addition to higher base pay, and that, taken together, their earnings growth hit its fastest pace since March 2024. Pay for workers staying in their jobs rose 3 percent, while overall base pay gained 3.2 percent and gross pay rose 4.7 percent.
Companies with 50 to 499 workers added 33,000 jobs, followed by small firms at 28,000 and large businesses at 24,000. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Tuesday showed the number of workers quitting, a sign of labor market mobility, at its highest level since March 2025.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect Friday's BLS report to show October nonfarm payrolls rose by 59,000, after September's gain of 29,000.