The private sector hired in December many more workers than analysts had expected according to a Thursday report from ADP.
Business hired 250,000 new workers in the last month of the year, beating expectations of 190,000. The job surge came as strong holiday sales fueled retailers and logistics companies to hire and the increased revenue flows into the economy made hiring favorable for other businesses. December showed a marked increase from November where only 185,000 jobs were created.
The largest and smallest companies showed the most robust hiring, but businesses of all sizes have continued to show strong growth.
“The job market ended the year strongly,” Mark Zandi, Moody’s chief economist said in a statement. “Robust Christmas sales prompted retailers and delivery services to add to their payrolls. The tight labor market will get even tighter, raising the specter that it will overheat.”
Anticipation of Trump’s legacy tax reform law triggered a multitude of companies to pay out bonuses, hike wages and increase investment ahead of year’s end which likely added to the positive hiring figures and may bolster early 2018 economic growth.
Professional and business services led hiring with 72,000 new hires, and education, trade, transportation and leisure sector hiring followed close behind. The only sector to show a reduction in hiring was information technology which dropped 4,000 positions.
