2023-11-01 13:19:20
(Washington) The private sector created 113,000 jobs in the United States in October, up from September, while wage increases continue, but at a slower pace, according to the monthly ADP/Stanford Lab survey released Wednesday.
This is more than the 89,000 jobs created by the private sector in September, but less than the 130,000 that were expected by analysts, according to the Market Watch consensus.
Hiring was not driven by a particular sector, underlines ADP chief economist Nela Richardson.
Wages, which had increased sharply for two years due to a labor shortage, helping to fuel inflation, continued to rise, but much less sharply, since the rate of increase is the weakest since at the end of 2021, +5.7% for those who kept the same job, +8.4% for those who changed.
“The strong post-pandemic wage increases appear to be behind us,” commented Nela Richardson.
She specifies that “overall, the October figures depict a well-balanced employment situation. And even though the job market has slowed, that’s still enough to support strong consumer spending.”
The official figures for October will be published on Friday, and should show a clear slowdown in job creation, expected to be half as high as in September, at 175,000. The unemployment rate should remain stable, at 3, 8%.
“It’s not exactly the same (job) market as in 2019. Labor shortages are more persistent,” Nela Richardson said during a conference call.
Thus, she clarified, when a sector recruits less, “it is difficult to know” whether it is “because companies are hiring less or because they cannot find workers”.
The American central bank (Fed) will conclude its meeting at midday on Wednesday, and is expected to maintain its rates at their current level, to avoid causing economic activity to slow down too much. This might, in fact, hurt employment, or even push the United States into recession.
“We expect the pace (of job creation) to moderate due to the lagged and cumulative effects of monetary policy, which are expected to weigh on demand and hiring in the future,” commented Rubeela Farooqi, chief economist for High Frequency Economics.
There were 9.6 million job vacancies in the United States at the end of September, roughly the same as at the end of August, according to data released, also Wednesday, by the Department of Labor in its JOLTS report.
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