Private Employers Add 230K Jobs in October

The number of jobs in the private sector increased by 230,000 from September to October, according to the October 2014 ADP Research Institute National Employment Report released on Wednesday.

Medium businesses, those with between 50 and 499 employees, had the largest increase month-over-month with 122,000 jobs added in October, more than double the total of August to September's increase of 47,000 for companies that size, ADP reported.

Small business, those with between one and 49 employees, saw an increase of 102,000 jobs from September to October after adding 93,000 jobs from August to September. In October, 53,000 of the jobs added were in companies with between one and 19 employees and 49,000 were added in companies with between 20 and 49 employees, according to ADP.

"Employment continues to trend upward as we begin the last quarter of 2014, driven mostly by small to mid-sized companies," said Carlos Rodriguez, President and CEO of ADP Research Institute. "October’s job growth is the highest since June and the second highest gain of 2014."

Large businesses with more than 500 employees gained only 5,000 new jobs month-over-month in October after adding 85,000 in September, according to ADP. Businesses with between 500 and 999 employees added 14,000 jobs from September to October, an increase from 8,000 added from August to September, but this gain was offset by the loss of 8,000 jobs in businesses with more than 1,000 employees, ADP reported.

The goods-producing sector accounted for 48,000 of the jobs added in October, a slight decline from the 50,000 jobs that sector added in September, according to ADP. The construction industry added the most jobs in this category in October with 28,000, more than twice the number of jobs added in that industry for Sepember (13,000). Manufacturing, however, added only 15,000 jobs after increasing by a three-year high total of 33,000 in September.

Meanwhile, 181,000 service-producing jobs were added in October, an increase over the 176,000 jobs that sector added in September. The professional and business service industries contributed the most job additions in that category with 53,000 in October, while the trade/transportation/utilities industries expanded by 47,000 jobs in October, up from 37,000 in September. The financial activities industry gained 4,000 jobs in October, which was less than half of September's total.

"The job market is steadily picking up pace," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. "Job growth is strong and broad-based across industries and company sizes. At this pace of job growth unemployment and underemployment is quickly declining. The job market will soon be tight enough to support a meaningful acceleration in wage growth."