ADP’s Employment Report showed that private payrolls were weaker than forecasted in October with just 113,000 jobs created, while pay growth reached the slowest pace in two years. Almost all the job growth came in service-providing industries, with goods-producing companies only adding 6,000 jobs.

What’s the bottom line? Nela Richardson, chief economist for ADP, noted that “while the labor market has slowed, it's still enough to support strong consumer spending.” She also explained that “big post-pandemic pay increases seem to be behind us.” On that note, annual pay for job stayers increased 5.7% and job changers saw an average increase of 8.4%. These figures have cooled considerably from last year’s highs of 8% for job stayers and 16% for job changers, which is significant because it suggests lower wage-pressured inflation.