Private businesses added slightly more jobs than expected in October, according to a report released Wednesday. Other job data also suggest some improvement in the labor markets, but the pace of hiring is unlikely to reduce the jobless rate soon, say economists.

Private-sector jobs in the U.S. rose by 110,000 last month, according to a national employment report published by payroll giant Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected ADP would report an October increase of 100,000. The September data were revised to show a rise of 116,000 versus 91,000 reported a month ago.

The ADP survey tallies only private-sector jobs, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics' nonfarm payroll data, to be released Friday, include government workers.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expect total nonfarm payrolls rose by 100,000 slots in October, not far from the 103,000 new jobs added in September.

Economists are not changing their forecasts in light of the ADP release. Jonathan Basile, director of economics at Credit Suisse, described the ADP job gain as "OK, not great."

The financial markets had little reaction to the ADP report. Investors are focusing on developments in the euro-zone debt crisis.

The October unemployment rate is expected to remain at 9.1%. The U.S. jobless rate has been 9.0% or more since April, a sign of how weak labor markets are.

Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers that compiles the ADP report, says his firm's economic outlook does not foresee any meaningful change in the unemployment rate until the second half of 2012.

The latest ADP report showed large businesses with 500 employees or more cut 1,000 employees from their staffs, while medium-size businesses added 53,000 workers in October and small businesses that employ fewer than 50 workers hired 58,000 new workers.

Service-sector jobs increased by 114,000 last month, and factory jobs fell by 8,000.

Prakken says the loss in factory jobs highlights the long-run secular downtrend in the sector's payrolls. Manufacturers use more equipment rather than workers to produce more goods.

ADP, of Roseland, N.J., says it processes payments of one in six U.S. workers. Macroeconomic Advisers, based in St. Louis, is an economic-consulting firm.

Other job-related reports released Wednesday were equally upbeat about the October labor market.

TrimTabs estimated 160,000 new jobs were created in October, compared with their September estimate of 64,000 positions.

Also, layoff announcements dropped sharply in October. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said the number of planned job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers plunged 63% last month to 42,759, the lowest monthly total since June.

Even so, the labor markets remain quite fragile. According to the Challenger report, so far this year employers have announced a total of 521,823 planned job cuts, 16% more than the 449,258 job cuts announced between January and October 2010.

TrimTabs warns the euro-zone debt crisis could derail the small improvement in U.S. labor markets.

--By Kathleen Madigan, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2466; kathleen.madigan@dowjones.com

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