The numbers: Privately run U.S. businesses created a fairly strong 571,000 new jobs in October, an ADP survey found, in a sign that companies are still managing to find workers despite the biggest labor shortage in decades.
The increase in private-sector jobs was bigger than expected. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 395,000 gain.
ADP sometimes acts as a preview for U.S. Labor Department’s broader employment survey that comes out a few days later. Yet the two reports have often been at odds during the pandemic and ADP has been less reliable as a bellwether.
The increase in private-sector jobs in September, meanwhile, was revised down to 523,000 from 568,000.
Read: Inflation in the U.S. is running at the highest level in 30 years
Big picture: The pace of hiring is still too slow to meet the needs of businesses and keep the economy humming. More than 10 million open jobs are available and a lack of workers has prevented many companies from producing enough goods and services to meet demand.
The hope is that more people will be drawn back into the workforce owing to a fading pandemic, the end of emergency unemployment benefits and rising wages.
Yet so far there’s little evidence of that. The share of people working or looking for a job is at the lowest level since the late 1970s.
Market reaction: U.S. stocks
DJIA,
SPX,
were set to open lower in Wednesday trades.
This post was originally published on Market Watch
