By Noreen Burke
Investing.com -- The U.S. private sector added 749,000 jobs in the month through mid-September, according to a report by payrolls processor ADP, a bigger-than-expected number that strengthened hopes that the labor market can hold up in the face of a seasonal increase in Covid-19 cases.
Analysts polled by Investing.com had expected the private sector to have added 650,000 jobs.
“The labor market continues to recover gradually,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute.
“In September, the majority of sectors and company sizes experienced gains with trade, transportation and utilities; and manufacturing leading the way. However, small businesses continued to demonstrate slower growth.”
August's figure was revised to show job gains of 481,000 from the gain of 428,000 that was initially reported.
The ADP numbers come ahead of the Labor Department's weekly report on initial jobless claims on Thursday and its nonfarm payrolls report for September on Friday.