Private Job Hirings Beat Expectations Amid COVID-19 Scares And Slow Economic Growth

Private companies added 568,000 jobs in September, exceeding expectations as the country faced growing numbers of delta variant cases and slow economic growth, according to a major payroll report.

The 568,000 jobs added is a sharp increase from the 340,000 jobs added in August, the ADP National Employment Report showed. Experts predicted private companies would add 425,000 jobs in September, CNBC reported.

“The labor market recovery continues to make progress despite a marked slowdown from the 748,000 job pace in the second quarter,” ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said in the report.

“Leisure and hospitality remains one of the biggest beneficiaries to the recovery, yet hiring is still heavily impacted by the trajectory of the pandemic, especially small firms,” Richardson added. “Current bottlenecks in hiring should fade as the health conditions tied to the COVID-19 variant continue to improve, setting the stage for solid job gains in the coming months.”

Leisure and hospitality added 226,000 jobs in September, the most of any industry, according to the report.

Large private businesses added 390,000 jobs in September, while medium businesses added 115,000 jobs and small businesses added 63,000, according to the report.

Stock market futures moved higher off their lows while government bonds also moved higher Wednesday morning following the report, according to CNBC.

The unemployment rate for August dropped 0.2% to 5.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the country added just 235,000 nonfarm payroll jobs.