ADP Jobs Report Comes with Caveats

Payroll processor ADP says that companies hired 208,000 workers last month which is a solid if not spectacular number.

While some economists are trumpeting the number as continued steady improvement in the job market there are important caveats to consider. 

Coming out of a recession job growth should be more robust than this and too much of the workforce is part time. According to numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics about 60 percent of all jobs created from October 2013 to October 2014 have been part time. 

Economists and politicians have complained that despite steady progress in the job market wages have not increased. In part that’s because of the transition to a more part-time work force. It’s hard to get wages up when workers are underemployed. 

ADP also notes however that the fifty percent of all jobs created are coming from employers with less than 50 employees and they say that increased lending by banks to small businesses is partially responsible. 

If true that better news than the jobs number and could signal significant wage progress ahead.