The increase in employment followed a revised 233,000 gain the prior month, figures from the Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Research Institute showed today. The median forecast of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an advance of 222,000. Payrolls have climbed by at least 200,000 in seven of the last eight months.
Resilient domestic demand, supported in part by falling energy costs, is encouraging employers to add to headcounts even as global economies struggle. Faster wage gains would help provide an added boost to household spending, which makes up almost 70 percent of the economy.
"The labor market is looking pretty good," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics Inc. in White Plains, New York, whose projection for a 210,000 gain was among the closest in the Bloomberg survey. "The labor market's in pretty good health. The only issue really is the hourly earnings numbers, which remain stubbornly depressed."
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