ECONOMY | Updated September 6, 2012, 10:30 a.m. ET
Positive Signs Emerge for Job Market
By KATHLEEN MADIGAN, SARAH PORTLOCK and ERIC MORATH
Private businesses added more workers than expected in August, according to a report released Thursday, while unemployment claims fell for the first time in four weeks, positive signs for the labor market ahead of Friday's monthly jobs report.
Private-sector jobs in the U.S. increased by 201,000 last month, according to a national employment report calculated by payroll processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers.
The August number was well above the 145,000 expected by economists. The July estimate was revised to 173,000 from the 163,000 reported last month.
The ADP survey tallies only private-sector jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' nonfarm-payroll data, to be released Friday, include government workers, whose ranks have been falling in recent years as state and local governments have cut staff to close budget gaps.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expect total nonfarm payrolls increased by 125,000 in August, and the jobless rate is projected to remain at 8.3%.
Forecasters are unlikely to change their projections for Friday's payrolls, in part because ADP has had big misses in recent months. For June employment, for example, ADP originally estimated 176,000 new jobs, but the total original gain was only 80,000.
The latest ADP report showed large businesses, with 500 employees or more, added 16,000 employees in August, while medium-size businesses added 86,000 workers and businesses that employ fewer than 50 workers hired 99,000 new employees.
Service-sector jobs increased by 185,000 in August, while factory jobs increased by 3,000.
ADP, of Roseland, N.J., says it processes payments of one in six U.S. workers. St. Louis-based Macroeconomic Advisers is an economic-consulting firm.
wsj.com |
