Is the Labor Market Shifting? A New Report Suggests Companies Are Regaining Power
The private sector added more jobs than expected in September.
By Gabrielle Bienasz • Oct 10, 2022 Originally published Oct 10, 2022
The labor market may be shifting.
Amid anxiety about a recession, layoffs and headcount cutting, and 8.3% year-over-year inflation as of August 2022, employers might have power again.
According to ADP's National Employment Report, which uses the payroll company's data from over 500,000 employers in the U.S., jobs increased by 208,000. In August, 185,000 jobs were reported.
For September, ADP reported a job increase of 208,000. This is higher than what was reported as the revised number in August, 185,000 jobs.
This increase was also higher than the Dow Jones estimate of 200,000, according to CNBC.
The pandemic pushed a variety of people out of work, between childcare demands, layoffs, and illness. However, the report did indicate one pandemic-era labor trend, the Great Resignation, which many workers used in a diminished labor market to obtain better job conditions or start businesses, may be waning.
Job-changers' pay increases slowed down in August after leaping since the summer of 2021, ADP said.
The annual, median change in job changers' pay was 15.7% in September. In August, that revised number was 16.2%.
"It's the biggest deceleration in the three-year history of our data," the company said. People who stayed at jobs saw annual pay go up by a median of 7.8% in September.
The report also shows job increases and decreases in various industries. "Goods-producing," including natural resources and mining, construction, and manufacturing, lost 29,000 jobs.
Trade, transportation, and utilities, which is a large bucket that includes things like moving goods around and working at an electricity company, saw the biggest gains, at 147,000. Hospitality, an industry that has reportedly struggled to hire since the pandemic, saw an increase of 31,000 jobs in September.
The ADP report is one of many labor measure economy watchers rely on.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts out several reports including the "jobs report," a.k.a, non-farm payrolls, which measure employment in the U.S. It will be released on Friday.
ADP has a market capitalization of nearly $100 billion.
