ADP: U.S. Firms Cut 2,500 Jobs a Week as October Ended

U.S. companies shed about 2,500 jobs a week to end October, according to a new high‑frequency snapshot from ADP that suggests hiring cooled as the month drew to a close.

What Happened

ADP Research said on November 18, 2025, that private payrolls declined by an average of 2,500 jobs per week in the four weeks ended November 1. That marks a notable improvement from the prior weekly reading, which showed average losses of 11,250 in the four weeks through October 25. Earlier this month, ADP’s monthly report estimated private employers added 42,000 jobs in October after two months of declines, underscoring the uneven pace of hiring late in the month.

ADP’s new weekly measure is a four‑week moving average, designed to provide a timelier view between monthly releases. The latest reading indicates the pace of job losses slowed heading into November, even as the overall tone remained soft.

Why It Matters

The weekly ADP series has taken on outsized importance this fall because official government statistics have been disrupted. BLS canceled October’s jobs report due to the shutdown, saying it could not collect the household survey needed to calculate the unemployment rate. While the shutdown has ended, the data gap has left investors and policymakers leaning more on private gauges to assess labor‑market momentum.

ADP’s monthly figures for October also help fill in the picture: the 42,000‑job gain hints at stabilization but not a surge, with hiring concentrated in education and health care as well as trade, transportation and utilities. Still, the late‑October weekly declines imply that any rebound was modest and uneven across industries.

What to Watch

With the October report canceled, the Bureau of Labor Statistics plans to release the delayed September employment report on November 20, 2025, and fold October’s establishment‑survey payroll data into the November report due December 16. That release will offer the next comprehensive read on hiring, wages and labor‑force participation, and provide a checkpoint against the ADP estimates.

Until then, ADP’s weekly updates will serve as a barometer of near‑term momentum. October’s ADP report showed a 42,000‑job private payroll gain, but the weekly data point to a labor market that softened as the month ended. Whether November brings stabilization—or further erosion—will be clearer as additional high‑frequency readings arrive.

Sources

• US Companies Shed Jobs as October Drew to a Close, ADP Data Show — Bloomberg (November 18, 2025)
• US lost jobs through late October, new private-sector data shows — Reuters (November 11, 2025)
• US canceling October’s employment report after shutdown prevented data collection — Reuters (November 19, 2025)