The U.S. Labor Department will announce how many jobs were created in September this Friday, October 2, before the markets open. ADP estimates that the economy added 749,000 jobs in the month, down from 1.37 million in August. This compares to the consensus estimate of 850,000 per Trading Economics (its projection is 915,000) and 800,000 from Capital Economics.

Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said, “The labor market continues to recover gradually. 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.”

Unemployment claims are still at historical levels

From the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, “Since March 15, 62 million individuals have filed a claim, largely because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and measures to