Companies in the private sector lost 32,000 jobs in November, payroll processing firm ADP said Wednesday.
The figure is below economists’ estimates of a gain of 10,000 jobs. The prior month’s payrolls number was revised upward to a gain of 47,000 from an initially reported increase of 42,000.
“Hiring has been choppy of late as employers weather cautious consumers and an uncertain macroeconomic environment,” said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson. “And while November’s slowdown was broad-based, it was led by a pullback among small businesses.”
Despite widespread job losses in November, the education and health services sector gained 33,000 positions in the month. Leisure and hospitality added 13,000 while natural resources and mining gained 8,000 jobs. Trade, transportation and utilities added 1,000.
Meanwhile, professional and business services lost 26,000 jobs, information lost 20,000 and manufacturing lost 18,000.
Construction and financial activities each lost 9,000 jobs and other services shed 4,000.
Large businesses – those with 500 or more employees – added 39,000 jobs in November. Businesses with 50 to 499 employees gained 51,000 workers. Establishments with fewer than 50 employees shed 120,000 jobs.
Wage growth in November slowed from the prior month. People staying in their roles saw their pay climb 4.4%, down from 4.5% in October, while pay gains for those changing jobs slowed to 6.3% from 6.7% in the month prior.
“This is no longer a low hiring job market, it’s a start-to-fire job market,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “Many smaller firms have been the hardest hit by tariffs and the uncertainty this year. They are letting employees go to try to remain profitable.”
“The start-to-fire labor market is likely to remain in place for the first half of 2026 until there’s more certainty on tariffs and more confidence among businesses to begin hiring again,” she added.
The monthly estimate has historically diverted from the government’s private payrolls count produced by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The BLS will release the closely watched employment report for November on Dec. 16. The report, originally due on Dec. 5, was delayed by the recently ended shutdown of the government. It will include nonfarm payrolls for October. The unemployment rate for October will never be known as the longest shutdown in history prevented the collection of data for the household survey from which the jobless rate is calculated.
Reuters contributed to this report
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