Private employers in the U.S. added far more jobs to payrolls in that last month of 2010 than expected, sending private-sector employment up by the biggest amount record, according to Rueters. On Wednesday, ADP Employer Services reported that private American companies added 297,000 jobs in December, which was three times more than analysts had been expecting, and far outpaced November’s 92,000 new jobs. The jump was the biggest since the decade-old records began, and a separate report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found planned layoffs plummeted to the lowest level in over 10 years.
The gain in payrolls in December was largely driven by the services sector, which added 270,000 jobs, with manufacturing contributing the bulk of the remaining jobs. Additionally, a separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showed the index for national services activity jumped to 57.1 in December from 55.0 the previous month. The gain exceeded expectations for a modest rise to 55.6, and the latest figure was the highest since May 2006. Surprisingly, the labor component for November fell about two points to 50.5, although the leading new orders indicator jumped to 63.0 in November from 57.7 previously.
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