MNI BRIEF: ADP Sees Tepid Jobs Recovery In New Weekly Report

A preliminary estimate of U.S. private sector hiring from ADP points to a tepid recovery in October after a 32,000 net loss of jobs in September, ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said Tuesday as the payrolls services provider began releasing weekly labor market projections. 

For the four weeks ending Oct. 11, the new "pulse" report shows private employers added an average of 14,250 jobs per week, ADP said. 

"There was a pickup in hiring over the last few weeks. That pickup isn't mirroring the strong hiring momentum we saw earlier this year, but it does suggest that a trough was reached in employment losses, and those weeks that showed loss seemed to be short-lived," Richardson said on a call with reporters. (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Case For Dec Fed Cut Uncertain - Lockhart)

It's unclear if the recovery will have staying power, Richardson said, adding she'll be watching to see if hiring stays concentrated in consumer-facing industries like leisure and hospitality or health care or broadens out. 

ADP plans to release preliminary pulse reports three times a month, with a two-week time lag to allow for more complete and accurate estimates of real-time employment trends. The reports are based on anonymized administrative payroll data of more than 26 million private-sector employees, or 1 in 6 workers in the United States, ADP said.