A new report from the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with a Stanford group shows an increasing rate of job growth in October.
The numbers can vary from the federal government’s reports on the job market. The ADP National Employment Report shows 239,000 jobs added across the U.S. economy last month, with all of the gains — derived from data associated with ADP clients — in the services sector rather than goods, which would include industry areas like manufacturing. (In September, the overall total was 192,000.) The report shows 247,000 jobs added last month across various service industries, with most of those in leisure and hospitality, evidently reflecting jumps in hiring in preparation for end-of-year vacations and similar ventures. A full 210,000 jobs were added in leisure and hospitality, per the ADP numbers. The next-highest category in terms of jobs added was trade, transportation, and utilities, with 84,000 new jobs. Every other sub-category in services recorded job losses, according to ADP.
In goods, mining and construction both posted job gains, but there were 20,000 lost jobs recorded in manufacturing, bringing the category’s overall total into the negative range. By region, most of the jobs reflected in this report were added in the country’s Pacific regions. In the South and Midwest, net job losses were recorded when breaking down the data from the national level by regions. ADP also reported a 7.7 percent year-over-year growth in pay for those remaining at their jobs, although inflation would likely eat into much if not all of those pay increases. Still, the increase means some workers could at least partly keep up with prices. One of the key drivers of overall inflation, gas and energy prices, has fallen from highs seen earlier this year. In June, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas was over $5. Now (on Wednesday), it’s $3.765 — ever-so-slightly above the average from a week prior and below the average from a month ago.
Biden has presided over multiple efforts to improve the U.S. job market, from the bipartisan infrastructure deal he signed last year to this year’s Inflation Reduction Act (which supports clean energy industries, among other initiatives) and a bill supporting the U.S. manufacture of technological components called semiconductor chips. Republican leaders in the House began opposing the chips bill as punitive retaliation for the inflation-fighting bill. In the lead-up to the midterms, Biden and others have criticized leading Republicans for threatening some of the basic social safety net programs on which many Americans rely. In Wisconsin, Sen. Ron Johnson (R), who is running for re-election, has pushed the idea of making Medicare and Social Security subject to annual budget negotiations in Congress, potentially pointlessly imperiling the programs. In Georgia, Stacey Abrams — the Democratic pick for governor — has criticized incumbent Republican Brian Kemp for resisting Medicaid expansion.
Image: Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons
