ADP jobs report: what October's 86,000 private jobs mean for your job search

The ADP National Employment Report is published every month by ADP Research, the research arm of the payroll company ADP, in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. It is built from the anonymized payroll data of more than 26 million private-sector employees. The ADP jobs report published on November 4, 2026 covers October:

Service-providing industries added 82,000 jobs and goods-producing industries 4,000. ADP describes a second month of solid hiring, with weak spots. As reported by CNBC, the result came in slightly above the Dow Jones consensus of 75,000.

• Trade, transportation and utilities (+39,000): the biggest gain of the month. Our guide to seasonal jobs covers who is hiring now.
• Education and health services (+28,000).
• Leisure and hospitality (+19,000).
• Professional and business services (-27,000): a third monthly loss in a row. If you apply in these fields, expect more candidates per opening.

Hiring was spread across company sizes: medium establishments (50 to 499 employees) added 33,000 jobs, small ones (under 50) 28,000 and large ones (500 and more) 24,000. By region, the South added 47,000 jobs, the West 28,000, the Midwest 9,000 and the Northeast 3,000.

Alongside the jobs count, ADP Pay Insights follows the pay of the same individual workers over 12 months. In October 2026, the median change was:

• All workers: base pay +3.2%, gross pay +4.7%.
• Job-stayers (same job as a year earlier): base pay +3.0%, gross pay +4.4%.
• Job-changers (changed jobs in the past 12 months): base pay +4.8%, gross pay +7.6%.

Gross pay includes bonuses, overtime and extra hours. ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said job-changers were drawn by that combination on top of higher base pay, and that their earnings growth reached its fastest pace since March 2024. These are medians across millions of workers, not a promise for any single move, but the gap is clear: changing jobs has paid more than staying.

1. One resume per job posting. A raise starts with an interview. Reuse the words of the posting in your summary and experience, without inventing anything. Our guide to resume skills shows how to pick the right ones.
2. Show results, not tasks. One number per job when you have it (sales, customers served, deadlines met, costs cut). It is also your best argument when the offer comes.
3. Know your number before the first call. Look up the pay range in the posting when there is one, and for similar roles near you, and decide the base pay you would accept before a recruiter asks.
4. Negotiate the whole package. The ADP data shows gross pay growing faster than base pay for job-changers: a signing bonus, guaranteed hours or overtime rules can matter as much as the salary line. Prepare your questions to ask the interviewer, including when to raise salary.
5. Leave cleanly. Give two weeks' notice and keep it short with a resignation letter.

• Who publishes it: the ADP jobs report comes from a private company, ADP. The jobs report (Employment Situation) comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and is the official number.
• What it covers: ADP counts private-sector jobs only, from payroll data. The BLS jobs report counts nonfarm payroll jobs, government included, and gives the unemployment rate.
• When it comes out: this month, ADP published on Wednesday, November 4, two days before the BLS report on Friday, November 6.
• Is ADP a forecast? No. ADP says its report is an independent measure of private employment and is not designed to predict the BLS number. The two can differ sharply in a given month.

• BLS jobs report (Employment Situation) for October 2026: Friday, November 6, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. ET.
• ADP National Employment Report for November 2026: Wednesday, December 2, 2026, at 8:15 a.m. ET.

We update this page with each new ADP jobs report.