U.S. Private Employment Up 143,000 In September...better than expected

Employment at private companies rose 143,000 in September from the previous month, according to a report compiled by U.S. employment information firm Automatic Data Processing.

September's increase was larger than August's 109,000 and above Dow Jones' forecast of 128,000 experts.

Wage growth rose 4.7% from the same month last year, slightly slowing from the 4.8% increase in August.

Automotive Data Processing said employment increased last month but wage growth was not high, especially with the difference in wage growth between turnover and non-earners at 1.9 percentage points, the lowest since January.

Automotive Data Processing Private Enterprise Employment Indicators are based on information collected by private intelligence companies and differ from the official U.S. government employment indicators, but the direction of the two statistics is similar.

As the Federal Reserve's focus shifts from price stability to job retention, markets are paying close attention to the U.S. Labor Department's September employment report, which will be released in April.