Companies in U.S. Add Fewest Workers in Five Months, ADP Says

Companies added 147,000 workers in October, the fewest in five months and marking a more limited pace of job creation, data from the ADP Research Institute showed Wednesday.

Firms have remained vocal about the difficulty in finding skilled workers in the pool of available labor, which has contributed to a slower hiring pace. Federal Reserve policy makers, who conclude a two-day meeting later on Wednesday, have been upbeat about progress in the labor market while citing lingering slack that still might be absorbed more than seven years after the end of the last recession.