By Timothy R. Homan Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Companies in the U.S. cut an estimated 203,000 jobs last month, according to a private report based on payroll data. The drop compares with a revised 227,000 decline the prior month, data from ADP Employer Services showed today. The figures were forecast to show a decline of 198,000 jobs, according to the median estimate of 34 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The report signals unemployment will keep climbing even after the economy begins to expand, one reason why Federal Reserve policy makers may pledge to keep interest rates low for a long time after their meeting today. ADP has overstated the Labor Department’s initial estimate of payroll losses by 103,000 per month on average in the five months to September. “While the economy has resumed growing, the labor market is in rough shape,” Joseph Brusuelas, a director at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said before the report. “Businesses appear hesitant to boost staff until the recovery matures.” ADP includes only private employment and doesn’t take into account hiring by government agencies. Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in St. Louis produces the report jointly with ADP. The report comes two days before a Labor Department release that is forecast to show the unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent in October, the highest since 1983, while employers cut 175,000 jobs. Another report today showed employers announced the fewest job cuts in 17 months in October. Planned firings fell 51 percent last month to 55,679 from 112,884 in October 2008, a fifth consecutive year-on-year decline and the largest since July 2006, Chicago-based placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said. Announcements were down 16 percent from the prior month. The economy already has lost 7.2 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, the most of any economic slump since the Great Depression.

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