The United States has recorded its fifth consecutive month of private payrolls increasing by more than 200,000 jobs, showing continuing steady growth in the world’s largest economy.
Figures from the ADP, the pay processing firm, indicated that payroll enrolments increased by 204,000 last month, in advance of the release of official figures that are expected to show a similar trend.
The increase followed a rise of 212,000 in July, and marked the fifth month of gains of more than 200,000, which Carlos Rodriguez, the ADP’s chief executive, said was an “encouraging trend for the US labour market”.
The government’s figures, released today, are expected to record a 225,000 increase in job numbers, according to a consensus survey of economists conducted by Reuters. This would follow a 209,000 rise in July and would add to the impression of an increasingly buoyant US jobs market with unemployment benefit claims holding steady.
Employment figures have become a particularly important signal for the markets, with Janet Yellen, chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, highlighting the importance of strong numbers in her forthcoming decision on interest rates. Expectations are for an increase in rates in the first half of next year, but this is likely to depend on a continuing run of good economic data, especially increases in employment.
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In her speech at the Jackson Hole symposium last month, Ms Yellen said policymakers still believed there was an “underutilisation of labour” in the US economy, but added that if the jobs market were to improve faster than expectations, rates could rise sooner.
Rates have been held at 0.25 per cent since December 2008 after being slashed at the height of the financial crisis in the wake of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.