US private sector adds nearly 300,000 jobs

WASHINGTON: The US private sector added 297,000 jobs in December, more than three times the number created in November, private payrolls firm ADP data showed Wednesday.

The increase was much stronger than the consensus forecast of 100,000 jobs, and marked the fourth straight month of gains, offering hope that the jobs sector, still struggling in the post-recession recovery, is gaining traction.



ADP revised slightly downward the November increase, to 92,000 from an initial estimate 93,000.

"This month's ADP National Employment Report suggests nonfarm private employment grew very strongly in December, at a pace well above what is usually associated with a declining unemployment rate," ADP said in a statement.

The ADP report, which measures the private sector, came ahead of Friday's official monthly jobs data, a key gauge of the economy's health that includes government payrolls.

Persistently high unemployment hovering near 10 percent has been a major challenge to full recovery more than a year after the end of the worst recession in decades.

Analysts expected the Labor Department to report Friday the unemployment rate slipped to 9.7 percent in December, from 9.8 percent in November, and the economy added nonfarm 135,000 jobs, up from 39,000.

Most of the increase in the ADP December payrolls was in the vast service-providing sector. The sector, which accounts for about 80 percent of US economic activity, added 270,000 jobs. It was the 11th consecutive monthly gain and the largest monthly increase in the history of the report.

The goods-producing sector created 27,000 jobs, the second consecutive monthly gain and the largest since February 2006. In the manufacturing sector, a key driver of the recovery, employment rose 23,000, also the second monthly gain in a row.

"Today's last report of the year 2010 shows the biggest increase in ADP employment since the creation of the index in 2001 and thus brings positive news for the employment situation," said Thomas Julien, US economist at Natixis.

"All in all, the labor market seems to be on track to improve overall, now approaching a more desirable pace to gradually offset the 8.5 million jobs lost during the crisis," he added.

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