“Join Our Team” flyer at the Appalachian State University Internship and Job Fair on Wednesday, October 1, 2025 in Boone, North Carolina, USA.
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Private sector job creation turned positive in December, payroll firm ADP said on Wednesday, but at a slightly slower pace than expected.
Businesses added 41,000 jobs in the month, reversing a decline of 29,000 in November and providing a bright spot for a labor market that had been struggling as 2025 drew to a close. Payrolls at private companies had declined in three of the four months leading up to the December announcement.
The final tally was slightly below the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 48,000.
Salary growth was driven exclusively by the service industry, with education and health-related sectors adding 39,000 jobs and leisure and hospitality adding 24,000 jobs. Trade, transport and public works increased by 11,000 jobs and financial services by 6,000 jobs.
Offsetting these gains were losses of 29,000 in professional and business services and 12,000 in information services.
The merchandise production industry decreased by 3,000 people, mainly due to a decrease of 5,000 people in the manufacturing industry.
Almost all of the employment growth came from businesses with fewer than 500 employees. The number of large companies increased by just 2,000.
“Small businesses, even large businesses, rebounded from November’s job losses with year-end employment gains.”
Employers have retreated,” said Nella Richardson, chief economist at ADP.
November’s total has been revised from an originally reported loss of 32,000.
The rate of wage increase continued to be suppressed, with the average annual increase for current employees at 4.4%, unchanged from November, and for those changing jobs, at 6.6%, an improvement of 0.3 points from the previous month.
The report was released two days before the much-watched Bureau of Labor Statistics’ nonfarm payrolls tally. BLS data collection was hampered by the government shutdown. It will be the first time since the impasse was resolved that the report will be released on schedule.
Economists expect 73,000 new jobs to be added in the month, up from 64,000 in November, and the unemployment rate is expected to fall slightly to 4.5%, according to a Dow Jones survey.
