The number of employees in the private sector increased by 235,000 last month, led by small and medium-sized businesses, according to data from the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab. The number beat all but one forecast in a Bloomberg poll of economists.
Employment gains have been concentrated in companies with fewer than 500 employees. Conversely, the largest companies cut 151,000 workers off the payroll, the most since April 2020. Entertainment, hospitality, education and health services, professional and business services, and construction led to employment growth.
- unemployment benefits
In addition, the number of Americans filing new jobless claims fell to its lowest level in three months last week, while layoffs fell 43% in December, indicating a decline in the job market. which could prompt the Federal Reserve (the central bank of the United States) to continue raising interest rates.
The Labor Department said Thursday that first-time applications for state unemployment benefits fell 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted number of 204,000 in the week ended Dec. 31, the lowest level since late September.
Economists polled by Reuters expected to receive 225,000 questions.
The figure was affected by the volatility that accompanied the end-of-year holidays. Due to these fluctuations, orders have remained at very low levels despite layoffs in the technology sector and in interest rate sensitive sectors such as housing and finance.
On Wednesday, the Labor Department reported that there were 10.458 million job vacancies at the end of November, which represents 1.74 jobs for every unemployed person.
The report also showed that the number of people who received benefits after the first week of claims fell from 24,000 to 1.694 million in the week ending Dec. 24. (Reuters)
