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Chicago Ford Assembly Plant, Illinois. © Scott Olson

U.S. Private Sector Employment Decreased by 123,000 Jobs in December 2020


The January 2021 ADP National Employment Report will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET on February 3, 2021

Published on January 06, 2021

Private sector employment decreased by 123,000 jobs from November to December according to the December ADP National Employment Report®. Broadly distributed to the public each month, free of charge, the ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis.

“As the impact of the pandemic on the labor market intensifies, December posted the first decline since April 2020,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “The job losses were primarily concentrated in retail and leisure and hospitality.”

The matched sample used to develop the ADP National Employment Report was derived from ADP payroll data, which represents 460,000 U.S. clients employing nearly 26 million workers in the U.S. The November total of jobs added was revised from 307,000 to 304,000.

Total U.S. Nonfarm Private Employment:   -123,000

By Company Size

– Small businesses:     -13,000

  • 1-19 employees     -16,000
  • 20-49 employees     3,000

– Medium businesses:     37,000

  • 50-499 employees     37,000

– Large businesses:     -147,000

  • 500-999 employees     22,000
  • 1,000+ employees      -169,000

By Sector

– Goods-producing:     -18,000

  • Natural resources/mining     0
  • Construction     3,000
  • Manufacturing     -21,000

– Service-providing:     -105,000

  • Trade/transportation/utilities     -50,000
  • Information     -6,000
  • Financial activities     2,000
  • Professional/business services     12,000
         -Professional/technical services     5,000
         -Management of companies/enterprises     0
         -Administrative/support services     7,000
  • Education/health services     8,000
         -Health care/social assistance     9,000
         -Education     -1,000
  • Leisure/hospitality     -58,000
  • Other services     -12,000

* Sum of components may not equal total, due to rounding.

– Franchise Employment (additional information here)

  • Franchise jobs     -5,300
Newsdesk Editor