Private sector added 122K jobs in December amid signs of hiring slowdown

Annual pay grew 4.6% year over year as private sector employers added 122,000 jobs in December, payroll giant ADP reported Wednesday.

That represents a hiring slowdown from earlier in the fourth quarter after over 180,000 jobs were added in October, and a revised total of 152,000 in November, according to ADP chief economist Nela Richardson, speaking during a conference call with reporters. 

The ADP National Employment Report found that service-providing businesses added the bulk of those jobs, 112,000. However, the professional and business services sector, which includes accounting and tax preparation, lost 5,000 jobs last month. The financial activities sector, which includes banking, added 12,000 jobs. Goods-producing businesses added 10,000 jobs, mainly in the construction sector, offset by losses in manufacturing, natural resources and mining.

Small businesses with between one and 19 employees lost 1,00 jobs, while those with between 20 and 49 employees added 6,000 jobs. Midsized businesses with between 50 and 249 employees lost 2,000 jobs, while those with between 250 and 499 employees added 11,000 jobs. Large establishments with 500 employees or more added 97,000 jobs.

Year-over-year pay growth for those who stayed in their jobs slowed to 4.6%, the slowest pace of gains since July 2021. In professional and business services, the rate was 4.5%. Pay growth for workers who changed jobs was 7.1%, a slight decline from November.

Richardson pointed to a recent pickup in job openings, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

“The labor market is still looking to attract workers,” she said. “Layoffs are still very, very low, and so what we’re seeing again is that balance.”

Workers are largely staying with their jobs, although a separate survey from ADP also found that worker sentiment is declining. ADP produces an Employee Motivation and Commitment Index that polls 2,500 workers each month. “What we’ve seen in this sample of workers is that people’s feelings about their jobs have started to decline,” said Richardson. “Worker sentiment about their jobs peaked in June, and it has been falling steadily every single month, including December. That signals that workers may be staying put, but they’re less happy about it than they were in June.”