US companies added 162,000 jobs in September

Private sector companies in the United States added 162,000 jobs in September according to a new report by the payroll processor, ADP. The national jobs report, which is expected to be released on Friday, will also account for public sector jobs. 

According to the ADP report, in the month of September, services companies added 144,000 jobs while manufacturing, construction and other goods-producing industries gained 18,000.

Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, told Reuters, "This is consistent with a moderate pace of job growth and we still haven't made much headway with the losses during the downturn. We would like to see growth on the order of 200,000 to 250,000."

The Associated Press noted that September's private sector growth was much higher than economists had predicted, however it will do little to push down the overall unemployment rate, which still hovers at 8 percent. The AP added that an average of 100,000 new jobs are needed each month just to keep up with growth of the working-age population.

Paul Ashworth, chief United States economist at Capital Economics, The New York Times, “While the economy isn’t plunging into recession, it still isn’t creating enough jobs to drive the unemployment rate lower, either."