The U.S. economy added 153,000 private, non-farm jobs in December, about 20,000 fewer than economists pooled by Bloomberg were expecting, according to the monthly employment report released Wednesday by payroll-management firm ADP and its partner Moody’s Analytics.
The seasonally adjusted number reflects a modest decrease from November’s downwardly-revised gain of 215,000 jobs, and marks a -49.67% decrease from December 2015, when 304,000 new jobs were added.
“As we exit 2016, it’s interesting to note that the private sector generated an average of 174,000 jobs per month, down from 209,000 in 2015,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and head of the ADP Research Institute. “And while job gains in December were slightly below our monthly average, the U.S. labor market has experienced unprecedented seven years of growth that has brought us to near full employment. As we enter 2017, the tightening labor market will likely slow the growth.”
Continuing the volatile pattern seen the past five months, the construction sector lost 2,000 jobs in December, after gaining 2,000 a month prior. As seasonal slowdown has set in, job creating in the construction industry has lost steam, but should likely rebound in the coming months. The goods-producing sector as a whole took a hit in December, losing 16,000 jobs total, with 9,000 of those losses in the manufacturing sector. The professional and business services sector—which includes architecture and engineering firms—continued to add jobs in December, creating 24,000 new payroll positions during the same period.
Despite the fact that employment is growing at a significantly lower rate than seen last year, Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi noted in a conference call this morning that 150,000 is still a good, solid number, and that the labor market remains strong. Zandi attempted to buoy uncertainty about how new fiscal policies could impact job creation in the future, noting that fiscal monetary policy can play a significant role in labor market productivity, but job growth will only be constrained by labor supply.
Only 11% (18,000) of payroll additions in December occurred at businesses with fewer than 50 employees, a figure that has continued to drop in previous months. Within that figure, firms employing fewer than 20 individuals lost -3,000 jobs last month.
ADP’s national employment report is often used to gauge the monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report, which will be released this Friday.
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