US private payrolls growth slows sharply in September

US PRIVATE payrolls increased far less than expected in September, but that likely exaggerates the pace of slowdown in the labour market.

Private payrolls rose by 89,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday (Oct 4). Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private employment would rise by 153,000. Data for August was revised slightly higher to show 180,000 jobs added instead of the previously reported 177,000.

The labour market is gradually easing as it adjusts to 525 basis points worth of interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve since March 2022. The government reported on Tuesday that there were 1.51 job openings for every unemployed person in August, though unfilled positions increased by the most in two years. A survey from the Conference Board last week showed consumers’ views of the labour market had improved in September.

The ADP report, jointly developed with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, was published ahead of the release on Friday of the Labor Department’s more comprehensive and closely watched employment report for September.

The ADP report has not been a reliable gauge in trying to predict the private payrolls count in the employment report.

According to a Reuters survey of economists, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to report that private payrolls increased by 160,000 jobs in September. Including government employment, total nonfarm payrolls are forecast to have risen by 170,000 jobs last month after increasing by 187,000 in August. REUTERS