(Bloomberg) -- Companies added 182,000 workers in October,signaling steady improvement in the U.S. job market, according to aprivate report based on payrolls.

Read: Age discrimination is widespread in jobmarket, study says

The increase in employment followed a revised 190,000 rise inthe prior month, figures from the ADP Research Institute inRoseland, New Jersey, showed Wednesday.

The median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg calledfor an advance of 180,000.

An expansion in headcounts that leads to faster wage growth willprobably help accelerate consumer spending, the biggest part of theeconomy.

Labor Department data on Friday may show private payrollsclimbed by about 170,000 workers last month, following a slowdownin the prior two months.

Read: Employers aware, concerned about overtimeexempt status

“The economy is creating close to 200,000 jobs per month,” MarkZandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester,Pennsylvania, said in a statement.

Read: Employers not ready to revolutionize benefitsplans

Moody’s produces the figures with ADP. “Job gains arebroad-based with energy and manufacturing alone subtracting fromthe top line. Small businesses, in particular, are contributing tothe labor market’s solid performance.”

Estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from gains of 140,000to 230,000. The prior month’s figure was previously reported as anadvance of 200,000.

Goods-producing industries, which include manufacturers andbuilders, increased headcounts by 24,000, the ADP report showed.Hiring in construction climbed by 35,000, while factories cut 2,000jobs.

Payrolls at service providers increased by 158,000.

Companies employing 500 or more workers added 29,000 jobs.Medium-sized businesses, with 50 to 499 employees, boosted payrollsby 63,000 and small companies took on 90,000 workers.

The ADP report is based on data from businesses with almost 24million workers on their combined payrolls.

The October jobs report, to be issued by the Labor Department,may show private businesses added more employees in October thanthey did a month earlier when they took on 118,000 workers,according to the median forecast of economists surveyed byBloomberg.

Overall payrolls, which include government agencies, may haveclimbed by 182,000 workers after rising 142,000 the prior month,Bloomberg survey projections also showed. The unemployment rateprobably fell to 5 percent, the lowest since 2008.

Federal Reserve policy makers, who have said they may begin toraise the benchmark interest rate this year from near zero, arewatching for signs of further improvement in the labor market.

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.