The US added 86,000 new “small farmers” in October, exceeding expectations. The service industry supported growth, and the salary growth rate of job changers hit the fastest since March 2024

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to the ADP National Employment Report jointly released by ADP Research and the Stanford Digital Economy Laboratory, the US private sector added 86,000 new jobs in October, higher than the 65,000 expected by the market. However, the number of new jobs added in September was revised down from 90,000 initially announced to 86,000, the same as October, making the overall momentum judgment neutral.

By sector, growth is highly concentrated in the service sector. The service sector added 82,000 people, with trade, transportation and utilities contributing the most (+39,000), education and health care +28,000, leisure hotels +19,000, and financial activities +15,000; however, professional and commercial services declined by 27,000, for the third consecutive month. The commodity production sector increased by only 40,000 people, construction +13,000, manufacturing -10,000, and mining -80,000.

According to enterprise size, small enterprises added 28,000, medium-sized enterprises added 33,000, and large enterprises 24,000, and the distribution was relatively balanced. In terms of salary, according to ADP Pay Insights, the basic salary of private employees increased 3.2% year over year in October. Among them, the growth rate of job-hopping workers reached 4.8% and the number of employed workers was 3.0%; total remuneration increased 4.7% year over year.

“Last month, employers of all sizes were hiring. Our data shows that job-changers are attracted not only by higher basic wages, but also by a combination of factors such as bonuses, overtime opportunities, and longer working hours,” said Dr. Nella Richardson, ADP's chief economist. “Taken together, the revenue growth rate for these employees was the fastest since March 2024.”

The ADP report is an independent estimate based on more than 26 million private sector employee salary data and is not equivalent to official non-farm payroll data. The US official non-farm payroll report for October will be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on November 6 (EST).