Private sector employment increased by 42,000 jobs in October and pay was up 4.5 percent year-over-year according to the October ADP National Employment Report produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.
The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure of the labor market based on the anonymized weekly payroll data of more than 26 million private-sector employees in the United States. ADP’s Pay Insights captures over 15 million individual pay change observations each month. Together, the jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s fine-grained data to provide a representative and high-frequency picture of the private-sector labor market.
“Private employers added jobs in October for the first time since July, but hiring was modest relative to what we reported earlier this year,” said Dr. Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “Meanwhile, pay growth has been largely flat for more than a year, indicating that shifts in supply and demand are balanced.”
October 2025 Report Highlights:
Private employers added 42,000 jobs in October. Last month delivered a rebound from two months of weak hiring, but the bounce wasn’t broad-based. Education and health care, and trade, transportation, and utilities led the growth. For the third straight month, employers shed jobs in professional business services, information, and leisure and hospitality.
Change in U.S. Private Employment: 42,000
Change by Industry
– Goods-producing: 9,000
- Natural resources/mining: 7,000
- Construction: 5,000
- Manufacturing: -3,000
– Service-providing: 33,000
- Trade/transportation/utilities: 47,000
- Information: -17,000
- Financial activities: 11,000
- Professional/business services: -15,000
- Education/health services: 26,000
- Leisure/hospitality: -6,000
- Other services: -13,000
Change by U.S. Regions
– Northeast: -12,000
- New England: 7,000
- Mid-Atlantic: -20,000
– Midwest: 9,000
- East North Central: 2,000
- West North Central: 7,000
– South: 6,000
- South Atlantic: -8,000
- East South Central: 11,000
- West South Central: 3,000
– West: 40,000
- Mountain: 2,000
- Pacific: 37,000
Change by Establishment Size
– Small establishments: -10,000
- 1-19 employees: -15,000
- 20-49 employees: 6,000
– Medium establishments: -21,000
- 50-249 employees: -25,000
- 250-499 employees: 3,000
– Large establishments: 73,000
- 500+ employees: 73,000
Pay growth was unchanged in October. Year-over-year pay growth was flat in October from the month prior, at 4.5 percent for job-stayers and 6.7 percent for job-changers.
Median Change in Annual Pay
– Job-stayers: 4.5%
– Job-changers: 6.7%
Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Industry
– Goods-producing:
- Natural resources/mining: 4.3%
- Construction: 4.5%
- Manufacturing: 4.8%
– Service-providing:
- Trade/transportation/utilities: 4.3%
- Information: 4.3%
- Financial activities: 5.2%
- Professional/business services: 4.2%
- Education/health services: 4.4%
- Leisure/hospitality: 4.6%
- Other services: 4.1%
Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Firm Size
– Small firms:
- 1-19 employees: 2.5%
- 20-49 employees: 4.1%
– Medium firms:
- 50-249 employees: 4.7%
- 250-499 employees: 4.8%
– Large firms:
- 500+ employees: 4.9%
The September total number of jobs added was revised from -32,000 to -29,000.
For additional information about the ADP National Employment Report, including historical files, employment and pay data, methodology, and a calendar of release dates, visit ADP.
