US companies hired at a fast rate in September, signaling a robust job market. The demand for the workforce remained elevated despite the uncertain economy.
After 185,000 additions in payrolls in August, in September, business payrolls increased to 208,000, as per data provided by ADP Research Institute and Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The Bloomberg survey of economists’ median forecast put the addition numbers at 200,000.
Though there is some moderation in labor demand, the ADP Research data shows that there is still strong demand in the job market. The recent interest rate hike and tightening monetary policy by Federal Reserve in an effort to cool the peak inflation seen in decades without affecting high-scale unemployment seems to have been complicated by a stable job environment. The job openings are still on the higher end of the range though they are coming down. On the other hand, unemployment insurance applications remained at an all-time low.
Last month’s increase in payrolls in the private sector saw a surge in transportation, trade, and utility industries, accounting for nearly 75% of the total growth. The mining and manufacturing industry saw a decline in employment, while financial activities also were the lowest since December 2020. The southern region in the US created more jobs than all other regions.
Steady Demand
The job data will be followed by the Governments labor report on Friday this week. The report is expected to show a month of strong job growth with the unemployment rate at a historical 50-year low.
The report also provides insight into the growth in wages. People who changed jobs in the past year got a 15.7% hike in wages, while those who stayed back got an average 7.8% hike. In the last two years, a 7.8 % hike was the highest experienced by employees at their existing jobs, mainly driven by large companies.
The chief economist of ADP, Nela Richardson, said they continued to see steady job growth. The people who stayed in their jobs got pay increases, whereas the annual pay hike decreased in September over August.
A small break during the summer, ADP Research came out last month with its employment report. The new report contained an updated methodology for data analysis, and the historical job data was provided on a weekly and monthly basis for the last 12 months. The figures provided were based on the payroll transactions of more than 25 million employees in the US.
