Employment growth in the private sector rose slightly in December with the addition of 235,000 jobs, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report. This follows a gain of 127,000 jobs in November.
“The labor market is strong but fragmented,” said Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, “with hiring varying sharply by industry and establishment size. Business segments that hired aggressively in the first half of 2022 have slowed hiring and in some cases cut jobs in the last month of the year.”
By industry, leisure/hospitality led job growth for another month with the addition of 123,000 jobs in December. Professional/business services (+52,000), education/health services (+42,000), and construction (+41,000) also had notable job gains. Meanwhile, trade/transportation/utilities (-24,000), natural resources/mining (-14,000), and financial activities (-12,000) were among the industries that lost jobs over the month.
Only the largest establishments (500+ employees) cut employment in December, decreasing by 151,000 jobs. Other establishment sizes had growth ranging from +32,000 jobs (250-499 employees) to +159,000 jobs (50-249 employees).
There was little change in annual pay in December, which settled at 7.3% year-over-year for job stayers and 15.2% for job changers. Annual pay increases were highest in leisure/hospitality (10.1%) and natural resources/mining (7.8%) and lowest in professional/business services (6.6%) and other services (6.7%). Pay increases by establishment size ranged from 5.4% (1-19 employees) to 7.7% (500+ employees).
