The employment
report prepared by Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and Moody's Analytics
showed on Wednesday the U.S. private employers shed 123,000 jobs in December. This
marked the first monthly decrease in private-sector employment since April.
Economists had
expected an increase of 88,000.
The November
number saw a light downward revision to 304,000 from the originally reported 307,000.
“As the impact
of the pandemic on the labor market intensifies, December posted the first
decline since April 2020,” noted Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of
the ADP Research Institute. “The job losses were primarily concentrated in
retail and leisure and hospitality.