Private employers added 86,000 jobs in October, the ADP jobs report showed Wednesday, matching a revised September gain and coming in slightly ahead of the Dow Jones estimate of 75,000. Small firms with 1 to 49 employees contributed 28,000. Job-changers’ overall earnings, not base pay alone, grew at the fastest pace since March 2024. Payroll and HR teams can use the release as a check on hiring demand and wage pressure before the Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday.
Key Takeaways
- Private employers added 86,000 jobs in October, matching revised September.
- Small firms with 1-49 employees contributed 28,000 of the total.
- Job-changers’ base pay rose 4.8%; overall earnings grew fastest since March 2024.
- Professional and business services shed 27,000 jobs for a third month.
What the ADP Jobs Report Shows
ADP Research, with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, said private-sector employment rose by 86,000 in a report released Nov. 4. ADP said the September total was revised from 90,000 to 86,000, so the two months now match. CNBC reported that October matched the downwardly revised September total, without giving the prior 90,000 figure. Morningstar, citing a Wall Street Journal poll, also put the consensus at 75,000.
The ADP National Employment Report uses anonymized weekly payroll data from more than 26 million private-sector employees. It does not cover government jobs. Friday’s Labor Department count includes public and private employment and uses separate surveys, Morningstar noted.
ADP said hiring was solid for a second month and that employers of all sizes added workers. Professional and business services remained the weak spot, losing jobs for a third straight month.
October Hiring by Sector and Region
Services did almost all of the hiring. Service-providing industries added 82,000 jobs. Goods-producing industries added 4,000, with construction up 13,000, manufacturing down 1,000, and natural resources and mining down 8,000.
- Trade, transportation, and utilities added 39,000.
- Education and health services added 28,000.
- Leisure and hospitality added 19,000.
- Financial activities added 15,000.
- Other services added 10,000.
- Information lost 2,000.
- Professional and business services lost 27,000.
CNBC described information as a sector potentially affected by the artificial intelligence buildout. The larger decline was professional and business services, which ADP said lost jobs for the third straight month.
By region, the South added 47,000 jobs, including 35,000 in the West South Central states. The West added 28,000, with 27,000 in the Pacific. The Midwest added 9,000 and the Northeast 3,000. New England lost 3,000, East North Central lost 2,000, and East South Central lost 3,000.
Small-Firm Share of the October Gain
Small establishments added 28,000 jobs. Medium employers led, with 33,000, and large employers added 24,000.
| Establishment size | October jobs added |
|---|---|
| Small, 1-49 employees | 28,000 |
| 1-19 employees | 21,000 |
| 20-49 employees | 7,000 |
| Medium, 50-499 employees | 33,000 |
| 50-249 employees | 22,000 |
| 250-499 employees | 11,000 |
| Large, 500+ employees | 24,000 |
Most of the small-firm gain came from the smallest employers: businesses with 1 to 19 employees added 21,000, and those with 20 to 49 added 7,000. Within the medium group, firms with 50 to 249 workers added 22,000 and firms with 250 to 499 added 11,000.
For owners, that split is a benchmark, not a local forecast. Analysis: education and health services, trade, and leisure and hospitality added workers, while professional services cut jobs for a third month, so supply is likely to differ by the roles a firm is filling. Companies reviewing how they administer pay can look at ADP and PNC’s embedded payroll for small firms.
Pay Growth and Wage Pressure for Employers
Base pay rose 3.2% year over year, and gross pay rose 4.7%, ADP Pay Insights reported. The series follows the same workers over 12 months and draws on more than 14.7 million pay-change observations a month.
Job-stayers’ base pay rose 3.0%, and their gross pay rose 4.4%. Job-changers’ base pay rose 4.8%, and their gross pay rose 7.6%.
In ADP’s announcement, Dr. Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP, said:
Employers of all sizes were hiring last month, and our data suggests that job-changers were lured by a combination of bonuses, overtime, and more hours in addition to higher base pay. Taken together, earnings growth for these workers hit its fastest pace since March 2024.
Richardson’s “fastest pace since March 2024” refers to that combined earnings growth, not the 4.8% base-pay figure alone. The gap between a 4.8% base gain and a 7.6% gross gain is the offer detail: bonuses, overtime, and extra hours are doing much of the work in attracting people who change jobs. CNBC also noted a Tuesday Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing quits, a sign of mobility, at the highest level since March 2025.
Construction led the sectors ADP listed for base-pay growth, at 4.0%. Information, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and other services each stood at 3.0%.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones look for Friday’s BLS report to show a gain of 59,000 after September’s growth of 29,000, CNBC reported. Morningstar said economists had expected the unemployment rate to hold at 4.2%. ADP’s November report is scheduled for December 2, 2026, at 8:15 a.m. ET.
Analysis for finance and HR leads: steadier private hiring is not a loose market. Scarce roles can still require richer offers even if headline growth stays near this pace, because switchers are being paid with bonuses and hours as well as salary. Budget base pay and variable hours together for trade, health, and hospitality openings, and do not treat three months of professional-services losses as a local surplus of candidates.
