The U.S. lost 203,000 private-sector nonfarm jobs in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the national employment report released today by Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NYSE: ADP). In addition, the report's estimated job loss in September was revised down to a decline of 227,000 instead of 254,000.

Service-sector employment fell by 86,000 in October, according to the report. Employment in the goods-producing sector fell by 117,000.

October marked the seventh consecutive month of decreasing declines in jobs, but the report said employment will likely continue to fall in the next few months as employment growth trails the overall improvement in the economy.

Data in the ADP report is derived from an anonymous subset of roughly 500,000 U.S. business clients.