A private survey showed that the U.S. job market is not as weak as feared.
Automatic Data Processing (ADP), a U.S. employment information firm, said on the 5th (local time) that private-sector employment in the United States increased by 42,000 in October from the previous month.
The increase exceeded the 22,000 gain forecast by experts polled by Dow Jones. According to ADP, U.S. private payrolls fell for two consecutive months in August and September, fueling concerns about a weakening labor market.
With the release of economic indicators delayed after the federal government shutdown (temporary halt of operations), Wall Street has focused on ADP's private-sector employment data released that day to gauge labor-market trends.
If the official employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is released as scheduled on the 7th, experts expect nonfarm payrolls to have fallen by 60,000 in October and the unemployment rate to have risen to 4.5%.
The ADP figure is based on data collected by a private information provider and may differ from the employment indicators officially compiled by the U.S. government.