ADP, a provider of human capital management solutions, said the private sector added 118,000 jobs in November.
The number of new employees added to the workforce was less in November, due to the temporary effect of hurricane Sandy.
According to the Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP), the reported job gains in October was adjusted down by 1,000 to 157,000 jobs. Data was derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, which measures the change in total non-farm private employment on the seasonally-adjusted basis every month.
Based on the ADP National Employment Report, goods companies added 4,000 jobs and companies providing services hired 114,000 new employees.
In November, the construction industry increased by 23,000, while manufacturing jobs declined by 16,000. The trade, transportation, and utilities sector added 22,000 jobs, the financial sector hired additional 13,000 employees, and the professional & business services sector added 16,000 to the workforce.
According to Carlos A. Rodriguez, president and CEO of Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP), the ADP National Employment report showed that the average monthly employment gains were 135,000 year-to-date.
Data from ADP showed that large companies hired 66,000 workers; medium-sized companies added 33,000 jobs, and small business increased their payrolls by 19,000.
According to Bloomberg, the median forecast of 38 economists was 125,000 jobs added in November. Economists estimated that hurricane Sandy reduced the number of payrolls by 86,000.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics said, “Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on the job market in November, slicing an estimated 86,000 jobs from payrolls. The manufacturing, retailing, leisure, and hospitality, and temporary help industries were hit particularly hard by the storm. Subtracting for damage from the storm, the job market turned in a good performance during the month. This is especially impressive given the uncertainty created by the presidential election and the fast-approaching fiscal cliff. Businesses appear to be holding firm on their hiring and firing decisions.” Moody’s Analytics collaborated with ADP in producing the employment data.
The report from Bloomberg cited that companies in the mid-Atlantic, the three state region employing 14 percent of the workforce in the United States delayed hiring activities as they recover from the damages caused by hurricane. Many businesses are also waiting for developments in the on-going discussions in Congress regarding the looming fiscal cliff.
Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services (NYSE:PNC) believes that businesses are still hiring, and the underlying job growth is strong enough to hire new workers. He said, “There’s underlying job growth that’s strong enough to employ new entrants into the labor force, as well as some of those who lost their jobs going into the recession.”
The Department of Labor is scheduled to release its employment situation report on December 7. The Bloomberg median survey indicated that the unemployment rate remains at 7.9 percent and the private payrolls increased by 93,000 in November.
