ADP’s National Employment Report showed private‐sector payrolls grew by 41,000 jobs in December, outperforming the revised November figure of a 29,000‐job decline. This result fell short of consensus forecasts by 7,000 jobs but marked a clear rebound in end‐of‐year hiring. The data are drawn from anonymized weekly payroll records covering over 26 million U.S. private‐sector employees, underscoring the report’s representativeness and high frequency.

Service‐providing businesses accounted for virtually all of December’s gains, adding 44,000 positions, while goods‐producing firms shed 3,000 roles. Education and health services led with 39,000 hires, followed by leisure and hospitality at 24,000. In contrast, professional and business services lost 29,000 jobs and information services fell by 12,000. Regionally, the South added 54,000 jobs, driven by a 29,000 gain in the South Atlantic, while the West contracted by 61,000, including a 59,000‐job decline in the Pacific states.

Annual pay for job‐stayers held steady at a 4.4% year‐over‐year increase in December, matching November’s pace, while job‐changers saw pay growth accelerate to 6.6% from 6.3%. Among industries, manufacturing job‐stayers enjoyed the fastest wage growth at 4.8%, with leisure and hospitality next at 4.5%. Pay gains varied by firm size: large employers (500+ employees) led at 4.8%, medium firms (50–499 employees) ranged from 4.6% to 4.7%, and small firms (1–49 employees) saw more modest increases of 2.3% to 3.9%.