Following a three-month slowdown in private sector job creation, September data out Wednesday delivered a much-needed rebound.
Following a three-month slowdown in private sector job creation, September data out Wednesday delivered a much-needed rebound.
Private employers added 90,000 jobs this month, according to ADP. More than half of those jobs were in education and health services. Leisure and hospitality also delivered strong growth, adding 22,000 jobs. Financial services and professional and business services were the weakest sectors, declining by 16,000 and 11,000 jobs, respectively.
ADP reported steady but underwhelming wage data: Median base pay rose 3.2% over 12 months ending in September, lower than the rate of inflation, which was unchanged in August at 3.4%, according to the Department of Commerce.
Overall, it's a steady market for job-seekers. The same can't be said for employers that rely on skilled trades workers, like Ford.
“We have 1.7 million open skilled jobs, skilled trades jobs in the United States. It’s a crisis and we have to do something about it," Ford CEO Jim Farley said.
The Alliance for America's Skilled Trades, a new coalition of major companies like Ford, Google, Carhartt and BlackRock, issued a report Wednesday projecting 1.7 million skilled trades jobs will open each year through 2035. The report said training programs currently produce just 55 workers for every 100 needed, a statistic that could worsen as one-fourth of current skilled trades workers are 55 years of age or older.
Of the 124 skilled trades occupations assessed in the report, solar panel installers and wind turbine service technicians are projected to see the most jobs created over the next nine years, increasing by 36% and 30%, respectively.
An updated reading of second-quarter GDP was also released Wednesday and came in stronger than expected: The economy grew at a rate of 2.2%, up from the previous estimate of 1.5%. Many economists believe that number would be stronger were it not for a widening trade deficit. Despite President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, the United States imported $132 billion more in goods than it exported in August, according to the Census Bureau.
On Friday, the Department of Labor will release September's jobs report, which includes data from the public and private sectors. The Dow Jones consensus forecast estimates the economy will have added 84,000 jobs and the unemployment rate will be unchanged at 4.1%. The report will also include wage data, which is expected to be unchanged, with average hourly earnings rising 0.3% over one month and 3.1% over one year.
