The rate of job losses witnessed in the US private sector slowed for a seventh consecutive month in October, according to a leading indicator.

Automatic Data Processing and Macroeconomic Advisors have published the National Employment Report, which revealed that non-farm employment in the US declined by 203,000 last month – the smallest drop since July 2008.

Specifically, the study discovered that the goods-producing sector lost 117,000 jobs in October, while the services industry recorded an 86,000 decline in employment.

Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisors, explained that the "diminishing rate" at which redundancies are occurring will continue into 2010.

He said: "Despite recent indications that overall economic activity is stabilizing, employment, which usually trails overall economic activity, is likely to decline for at least a few more months."

Earlier this week, the US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner suggested that the country's unemployment rate of 9.8 per cent will begin to fall during the opening months of next year.