The U.S. private sector unexpectedly shed jobs in December as employment trends weakened sharply across the country before Congress passed its latest virus relief package.
Private payrolls fell by 123,000 during the final month of 2020, according to ADP’s closely watched report, marking the first monthly decline since April. This followed a revised increase of 304,000 jobs in November. Consensus economists expected to see 75,000 jobs come back in December, according to Bloomberg data.
The service-providing sector was hit hard again after a brief reprieve in recent months, as tighter lockdown measures came back into effect across the country starting in mid-November. Leisure and hospitality industries lost 58,000 payrolls in December, followed closely by trade and transportation industries with a decline of 50,000. Manufacturing industries also lost 21,000 private payrolls in December, unwinding some of the goods-producing sector’s recent recovery. The industries that did see net payroll gains during December – including business services and education and health services – posted only modest increases.
Read the full story from Emily McCormick in Yahoo Finance here.