ADP Says U.S. Companies Added 201,000 Workers in August

By Shobhana Chandra and Alex Kowalski - Sep 6, 2012 8:42 AM ET


Companies added more workers than forecast in August, easing concern the U.S. job market may be stalling, a private report based on payrolls showed.

The 201,000 increase in employment, the biggest gain in five months, followed July’s revised 173,000 rise, Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Employer Services said today. The median forecast of 41 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an advance of 140,000.


A sustained pickup in hiring would help generate the wage gains needed to spur consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy. A Labor Department report tomorrow may show private payrolls rose by 138,000 in August, and unemployment held at 8.3 percent, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

The ADP figure is “good news for the economy if it turns out to be correct,” Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. in Holland, Pennsylvania, said in an e-mail to clients. “We may not be seeing a deluge of new jobs but it clearly looks like firms are hiring again.”

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-06/adp-says-u-s-companies-added-201-000-workers-in-august.html