ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 202,000 Jobs in December

Staff Report

Thursday, January 9th, 2020

Private sector employment increased by 202,000 jobs from November to December according to the December ADP National Employment Report.  Broadly distributed to the public each month, free of charge, the ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Moody's Analytics.  The report, which is derived from ADP's actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis.  

December 2019 Report Highlights

Total U.S. Nonfarm Private Employment:     202,000

By Company Size

- Small businesses:     69,000

1-19 employees     9,000

20-49 employees     60,000

- Medium businesses:     88,000

50-499 employees     88,000

- Large businesses:     45,000

500-999 employees     26,000

1,000+ employees     18,000

By Sector

- Goods-producing:     29,000

Natural resources/mining     -1,000

Construction     37,000

Manufacturing     -7,000

- Service-providing:     173,000

Trade/transportation/utilities     78,000

Information     -14,000

Financial activities     10,000

Professional/business services     61,000
     - Professional/technical services     25,000
     - Management of companies/enterprises     5,000
     - Administrative/support services     32,000

Education/health services     49,000
     - Health care/social assistance     46,000
     - Education     3,000

Leisure/hospitality     -21,000

Other services     10,000

* Sum of components may not equal total, due to rounding.

Franchise Employment

Franchise jobs     59,700

"As 2019 came to a close, we saw expanded payrolls in December," said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. "The service providers posted the largest gain since April, driven mainly by professional and business services. Job creation was strong across companies of all sizes, led predominantly by midsized companies."

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said, "Looking through the monthly vagaries of the data, job gains continue to moderate. Manufacturers, energy producers and small companies have been shedding jobs. Unemployment is low, but will begin to rise if job growth slows much further."

The matched sample used to develop the ADP National Employment Report was derived from ADP payroll data, which represents 411,000 U.S. clients employing nearly 24 million workers in the U.S.  The November total of jobs added was revised up from 67,000 to 124,000.