In October private sector employment rose, scrubbing loses of previous months but doing little to allay fears that the job market is still treading water, payrolls firm ADP said on Nov. 3.
Private-sector employment increased by 43,000 from September to October on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the firm's monthly report.
Most economists had expected around 23,000 jobs to have been created.
But ADP warned: "Employment gains of this magnitude are not sufficient to lower the unemployment rate.
"It would not be surprising to see several more months of lethargic employment gains, even if the economic recovery gathers momentum."
Most of the month's losses came from the goods producing and manufacturing sectors.
The firm revised its September figure from a decline of 39,000 jobs to a more modest decline of 2,000 jobs.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010