ADP Reports 693,000 Private-Sector Jobs Lost in December Private sector jobs fell 693,000 in the U.S. in December, according to a revamped national employment report published Wednesday by payroll giant Automatic Data Processing Inc. and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers. That's far higher than the 515,000 loss forecast in a Dow Jones Newswires survey. The December ADP survey is the first to incorporate a major overhaul of the methodology, including new regressions. The changes were introduced because the ADP survey has underestimated the monthly number of job losses as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics since the recession began in December 2007. For instance, under the old calculations, the ADP Survey showed a loss of 250,000 private-sector jobs in November. The new methodology shows a 476,000 job drop in November, closer to the 533,000 reported by the BLS. The ADP survey tallies only private-sector jobs while the BLS data include government workers. Based on recent public-sector job growth, Wednesday's ADP report suggests December nonfarm payrolls will show a loss of at least 650,000 when the BLS reports the data on Friday.
Private sector jobs fell 693,000 in the U.S. in December, according to a revamped national employment report published Wednesday by payroll giant Automatic Data Processing Inc. and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers.
That's far higher than the 515,000 loss forecast in a Dow Jones Newswires survey.
The December ADP survey is the first to incorporate a major overhaul of the methodology, including new regressions. The changes were introduced because the ADP survey has underestimated the monthly number of job losses as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics since the recession began in December 2007.
For instance, under the old calculations, the ADP Survey showed a loss of 250,000 private-sector jobs in November. The new methodology shows a 476,000 job drop in November, closer to the 533,000 reported by the BLS.
The ADP survey tallies only private-sector jobs while the BLS data include government workers. Based on recent public-sector job growth, Wednesday's ADP report suggests December nonfarm payrolls will show a loss of at least 650,000 when the BLS reports the data on Friday.
Companies are accelerating the pace of firings as the recession plaguing the world's largest economy heads into a second year. The Labor Department may report in two days that employers slashed jobs in December for a 12th consecutive month, putting total job cuts at 2.4 million for 2008, according to a Bloomberg survey median.
