Jobs picture remains fuzzy

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A pair of job reports issued Wednesday show that the nation's employment picture remains cloudy at best.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a much more modest addition of only 45,000 jobs in September. The number of jobs created in August was revised down to 89,000 from the previously reported 91,000.

While the increase isn't great, it could have been worse.

"It is a modest increase, probably not enough to keep the unemployment rate from rising, consistent with what we know has happened with GDP," said Joel Prakken, the chairman of Macroeconomic Advisors on a conference call with reporters. "On the other hand, this is a positive number and it doesn't seem to be getting any worse from the past couple months."

Small firms, with payrolls ranging from one to 49 employees and thought by many to be the engine of job growth, led the charge, adding 60,000 jobs, according to ADP.

Hiring: Yes. No. Maybe so.

Medium-sized businesses, with payrolls between 50 and 499 employees, added 36,000 jobs in the month, while the nation's largest businesses shed 5,000 jobs.

Additionally, almost all of the jobs were added in the service-producing sector. Of the 91,000 private sector-jobs added in the month, only 1,000 of them came from the goods-producing sector. "It is going to have to be the service market that leads the way," said Prakken.