WASHINGTON — U.S. businesses hired at a solid pace last month, according to a private survey, a signal that Friday’s November jobs report from the government likely also will show strength.
Payroll processer ADP said Wednesday that companies added 208,000 jobs in November, the third straight month that hiring has topped 200,000. The figures suggest that businesses remain confident enough in the economy and their customer demand to add workers despite sluggish growth overseas.
The report “adds to the evidence that employment growth remains solid,” said Jim O’Sullivan, an economist at High Frequency Economics, a forecasting firm.
The ADP numbers cover only private businesses and sometimes diverge from the government’s more comprehensive jobs report Friday, which includes government agencies.
Smaller companies with fewer than 50 employees accounted for nearly half the job gain for the second straight month.
Ahu Yildirmaz of the ADP Research Institute said banks are lending more freely to small businesses, enabling them to hire more. “The broadening of hiring to small companies is another sign of an economy returning to health,” Yildirmaz said.
