Private sector employment increased by 41,000 jobs in December and pay was up 4.4 percent year-over-year according to the December ADP National Employment Report produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab (“Stanford Lab”).
The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure of the labor market based on the anonymized weekly payroll data of more than 26 million private-sector employees in the United States. ADP’s Pay Insights captures over 15 million individual pay change observations each month. Together, the jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s fine-grained data to provide a representative and high-frequency picture of the private-sector labor market.
“Small establishments recovered from November job losses with positive end-of-year hiring, even as large employers pulled back,” said Dr. Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP.
December 2025 Report Highlights
View the ADP National Employment Report and interactive charts at www.adpemploymentreport.com.
JOBS REPORT
Private employers added 41,000 jobs in December
December brought a rebound in hiring, led by education and health services, and leisure and hospitality.
Change in U.S. Private Employment: 41,000
Change by Industry
– Goods-producing: -3,000
- Natural resources/mining 1,000
- Construction 1,000
- Manufacturing -5,000
– Service-providing: 44,000
- Trade/transportation/utilities 11,000
- Information -12,000
- Financial activities 6,000
- Professional/business services -29,000
- Education/health services 39,000
- Leisure/hospitality 24,000
- Other services 5,000
Change by U.S. Regions
– Northeast: 40,000
- New England -11,000
- Mid-Atlantic 51,000
– Midwest: 9,000
- East North Central 9,000
- West North Central 0
– South: 54,000
- South Atlantic 29,000
- East South Central 9,000
- West South Central 16,000
– West: -61,000
- Mountain -2,000
- Pacific -59,000
Change by Establishment Size
– Small establishments: 9,000
- 1-19 employees 4,000
- 20-49 employees 5,000
– Medium establishments: 34,000
- 50-249 employees 29,000
- 250-499 employees 5,000
– Large establishments: 2,000
- 500+ employees 2,000
PAY INSIGHTS
Job-stayer pay growth was unchanged in December
Year-over-year pay for job-stayers rose 4.4 percent in December, unchanged from November. For job-changers, the pace of pay growth accelerated to 6.6 percent from 6.3 percent.
Median Change in Annual Pay
– Job-stayers 4.4%
– Job-changers 6.6%
Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Industry
– Goods-producing:
- Natural resources/mining 4.3%
- Construction 4.2%
- Manufacturing 4.8%
– Service-providing:
- Trade/transportation/utilities 4.2%
- Information 4.1%
- Financial activities 5.2%
- Professional/business services 4.1%
- Education/health services 4.3%
- Leisure/hospitality 4.5%
- Other services 4.0%
Median Change in Annual Pay for Job-Stayers by Firm Size
– Small firms:
- 1-19 employees 2.3%
- 20-49 employees 3.9%
– Medium firms:
- 50-249 employees 4.6%
- 250-499 employees 4.7%
– Large firms:
- 500+ employees 4.8%
To see Pay Insights by U.S. State, Gender, and Age for Job-Stayers, visit here:
