The payroll processing company ADP reported that private sector employers added 158,000 jobs in October. That's the little surprise: The consensus estimate of economists was that ADP would report around 125,000 new jobs. That's not a great number, but it is in line with what we've been seeing in recent months: confirmation of a slow recovery in the labor market.

But here's the tricky part. On Wednesday, ADP announced that it was rejiggering its methodology for counting jobs. This was long overdue -- ADP's goal, every month, is to come up with a number that ends up close to what the government reports  on the first Friday of every new month. But in the past, ADP's numbers have been a terrible guide to what the BLS reports -- often coming in much higher, or far lower.

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