US private hiring rose 41,000 in December, ADP says
ADP reported a smaller-than-expected December gain in private jobs, with annual pay up 4.4% and the BLS employment report due Friday.
By Ingrid Halvorsen · Staff Writer
· 2 min read
Private-sector employment in the United States increased by 41,000 jobs in December, according to ADP’s National Employment Report. The gain was below the consensus estimate of 50,000 cited by Calculated Risk, adding a restrained private-employment reading ahead of the Bureau of Labor Statistics report due Friday.
ADP also reported that annual pay rose 4.4%. The figures point to continued hiring in the private economy, though at a pace that fell short of the expectation referenced by Calculated Risk.
Dr. Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, said the December data showed a split by employer size. “Small establishments recovered from November job losses with positive end-of-year hiring, even as large employers pulled back,” Richardson said in ADP’s release.
What the ADP report showed
The ADP National Employment Report is a private-sector employment measure released before the official monthly employment report from the BLS. In this instance, ADP reported job growth of 41,000 for December and annual pay growth of 4.4%.
The report’s employer-size detail, as described by Richardson, indicates that smaller businesses contributed positively after losing jobs in November. Larger employers, by contrast, reduced hiring or employment in the period, according to the ADP economist’s characterization.
Calculated Risk said the ADP figure missed the consensus forecast of 50,000 jobs added. The gap between the reported increase and the estimate was 9,000 jobs.
Attention turns to the BLS release
The BLS is scheduled to publish its employment report on Friday. Calculated Risk said the consensus for that report is for 55,000 jobs added.
The ADP and BLS reports are separate measures, so the ADP release is often treated as one employment-market signal rather than a substitute for the official figures. The BLS report will provide the next scheduled reading on job creation referenced by Calculated Risk.
For policymakers and investors, the sequence leaves December labor-market assessment dependent on Friday’s official release. The confirmed data so far show private employers added jobs in December, annual pay continued to rise, and hiring by employer size was uneven, according to ADP.
This story draws on original reporting from Calculated Risk.
