(Bloomberg) — Companies added more than 200,000 workers to payrolls in January for a fifth consecutive month, signaling steady labor market growth, according to a private payrolls report.
The 213,000 increase in employment followed a 253,000 December gain that was larger than initially reported, figures from Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Research Institute showed Wednesday. The median projection of 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an advance of 223,000.
The U.S. labor market is demonstrating that it can keep adding jobs even as slumping energy prices hurt industries exposed to oil. A Labor Department report on Friday is projected to show the world's largest economy added 231,000 jobs last month.
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It "shows a good deal of resilience in the labor market," said Sean Incremona, a senior economist at 4Cast Inc. in New York, who projected a 215,000 payroll gain. "We might not be as stellar as we were a couple months ago, but it is still a very respectable picture."
Estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from gains of 200,000 to 260,000. The December reading was revised from a previously reported advance of 241,000.
Stocks fell as investors weighed corporate earnings. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 0.3 percent to 2,043.21 at 9:33 a.m. in New York.
Payroll breakdown
Goods-producing industries, which include manufacturers and builders, boosted headcounts by 31,000 last month, the ADP report showed. Hiring in construction increased by 18,000 jobs, while factories added 14,000. Service providers increased staff by 183,000.
Companies with 500 or more employees added 40,000 jobs. Medium-sized businesses, employing 50 to 499 workers, increased headcount by 95,000, while small company payrolls rose 78,000.
"Employment posted another solid gain in January, although the pace of growth is slower than in recent months," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said in a statement. Moody's produces the figures with ADP. "All indications are that the job market will continue to improve in 2015."
The ADP report is based on data from businesses with almost 24 million workers on their combined payrolls.
Jobless rate
The January jobs report that's due from the Labor Department on Feb. 6 may show the unemployment rate held at 5.6 percent last month, a more than six-year low, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
The range considered full employment by Federal Reserve policy makers is 5.2 percent to 5.5 percent.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said in a Feb. 3 speech in Newark, Delaware, that unemployment will fall "below almost anybody's notion of the natural rate of long-term unemployment," easing to less than 5 percent in the third quarter.
Energy companies may be among those trying to cut costs after fuel prices plummeted.
"Businesses in the energy and supplying industries are already scaling back payrolls in reaction to the collapse in oil prices, while industries benefiting from the lower prices have been slower to increase hiring," Moody's Zandi said in the statement.
Oil patch
Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. energy producer, cut its drilling budget by the most in 12 years, suspended share buybacks and dismissed workers.
The San Ramon, California-based company reported a 30 percent drop in earnings from the year-ago period. John Watson, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement that even as prices fall, "we believe long-term market fundamentals remain attractive."
To date, jobless claims data haven't reflected major headcount reductions in the U.S. oil patch. No states reported an increase of more than 1,000 claims in the week ended Jan. 17, a Labor Department report showed Jan. 29.
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