Economy

U.S. private payrolls rise 86,000 in October, beating forecasts ahead of Friday's jobs report

Washington • November 4, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration: workers seen from behind walking into a bright office building lobby past a bulletin board covered with job postings

Editorial illustration — Press Pass USA

U.S. private employers added 86,000 jobs in October, ADP reported Wednesday, beating forecasts and extending a second straight month of solid hiring — the first major labor-market reading since Tuesday's midterm elections, and a warm-up for the official October jobs report due Friday.

Private employment rose by 86,000 last month, according to the ADP National Employment Report, produced by ADP Research with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab from payroll data covering more than 26 million U.S. private-sector workers. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a gain of 69,000, after a previously reported 90,000 increase in September — a figure ADP revised down to 86,000, matching October's pace exactly.

Services did nearly all of the hiring: service-providing industries added 82,000 jobs, while goods-producing industries added just 4,000. Trade, transportation and utilities led the way with 39,000 new jobs, followed by education and health services with 28,000, leisure and hospitality with 19,000, financial activities with 15,000 and other services with 10,000. The clear weak spot was professional and business services, which lost 27,000 jobs — its third consecutive monthly decline — and information shed 2,000.

Pay gains were little changed. Base pay for private-sector workers rose 3.2% from a year earlier, while gross pay was up 4.7%, according to ADP Pay Insights. Job-stayers saw base pay rise 3.0%, while job-changers saw 4.8% — and gross pay for job-changers jumped 7.6%.

"Employers of all sizes were hiring last month, and our data suggests that job-changers were lured by a combination of bonuses, overtime, and more hours in addition to higher base pay. Taken together, earnings growth for these workers hit its fastest pace since March 2024," said Dr. Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.

The report lands in a week of closely watched labor data. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported job openings jumped to 7.52 million in September, with 1.06 open jobs for every unemployed person, up from 1.02 in August. Reuters cautions that ADP has been a poor gauge of the official private-payroll estimate in the past, so Wednesday's beat should be read with care: a Reuters survey expects the Bureau of Labor Statistics to report Friday that private payrolls rose by 64,000 in October, after a 46,000 gain in September, with total nonfarm payrolls up 65,000 after 29,000, and the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.2%.

For all the uncertainty — including the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which Reuters notes is weighing on hiring decisions — the picture from this week's data is of a labor market on firmer footing than feared: openings up, layoffs low, and now two straight months of private hiring at 86,000. Friday's official report will show whether that steadiness holds.

Sources: Reuters, "US private payrolls rise in October, ADP says" (Nov. 4, 2026); ADP National Employment Report, October 2026, via PR Newswire (Nov. 4, 2026); Kitco News, "Gold prices holding $4,000 as ADP says US economy created 86k jobs in October" (Nov. 4, 2026). Friday's official figures are forecasts from a Reuters survey of economists, not results.