ADP: Employers added 807,000 jobs in December, doubling expectations | Economy

Employers added a whopping 807,000 jobs in December, a strong end to 2021 and a good omen for 2022, private payroll company ADP reported Wednesday.

The number was more than double the 360,000 and compared to 534,000 jobs added in November.

Profits were led by the services sector, with 669,000 jobs created, and in larger companies with 389,000 vacancies filled.

The private sector report comes two days before the Department of Labor releases its monthly jobs report for December, which includes government jobs. Economists predict a profit of 400,000 after a somewhat disappointing increase of 210,000 in November.

The December job market strengthened as the effects of the delta variant weakened and the impact of Omicron was not yet visible,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “Job growth was broad-based as goods manufacturers added the strongest reading of the year, while service providers dominated growth.”

“December job growth brought the fourth-quarter average to 625,000, ahead of the average of 514,000 for the year. While the number of jobs exceeded 6 million in 2021, private sector payrolls are still nearly 4 million jobs below pre-COVID-19 levels,” Richardson added.

Overall, 2021 ends strongly for the job market, with an average of more than 500,000 jobs created each month of the year, although there have been some big swings in the numbers.

A rebounding job market was one of the requirements cited by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in December when the central bank voted to end buying government bonds and mortgage-backed securities worth $120 billion a month. . The Fed is now expected to start raising interest rates as early as mid-year.

It’s not clear how the rapidly spreading ommicron strain of the coronavirus will affect jobs, as some businesses and governments are already reporting closures due to staff shortages. This is especially a problem for schools, which are closed in some major districts.

“Fortunately for workers, employers are in no rush to cut jobs,” Bankrate senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick wrote ahead of the report’s publication. “New unemployment benefit claims remain low for nearly decades.”

“The question remains whether there will be enough workers to fill the positions available and how many people will be willing to rejoin the workforce, continue working or seek employment,” Hamrick added.