Private sector added 174k jobs in January: ADP

U.S. businesses added 174,000 jobs in January, rebounding from the first monthly decline in hiring since last April, according data released Wednesday by payroll processor ADP.

Non-farm private sector payrolls added more workers than economists had expected to kick off 2021, following a revised decline of 78,000 in December, according to ADP’s National Employment Report.

“The labor market continues its slow recovery amid COVID-19 headwinds,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, in a statement.

ADP’s employment summary is released two days before the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report, but is not meant to be a preview of the official federal data. Economists broadly expect the U.S. to have added 50,000 jobs in January after losing 140,000 in December.

The services sector gained the vast majority of January’s new jobs, according to ADP, adding 156,000 workers last month. The leisure and hospitality industry — one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic — gained 35,000 jobs, education and health services gained 56,000 workers and professional and business services added 40,000 workers.

The goods-producing sector added 19,000 jobs split between 18,000 in construction and 1,000 in manufacturing.

Midsized business — those with between 50 and 499 employees — added 84,000 jobs, businesses with fewer than 50 employees added 51,000 jobs, and businesses with more than 500 employees added just 39,000 jobs.

“Although job losses were previously concentrated among small and midsized businesses, we are now seeing signs of the prolonged impact of the pandemic on large companies as well,’ Yildirmaz said.