U.S. private sector adds 164,000 jobs in December as hiring slows

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Private companies in the United States added 164,000 jobs in December amid slowing job growth, payroll data company Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reported Thursday.

Job gains rose for the fourth straight month, led by a healthy bump in leisure and hospitality hiring, the ADP noted. "Construction held strong in the face of high interest rates, but manufacturing continued to struggle, notching another month of losses."

In the service-providing sector, 155,000 jobs were added, with a decline of 2,000 jobs in information, and growth of 59,000 jobs in leisure and hospitality.

Pay for job-stayers rose 5.4 percent in December, slowing from 5.6 percent a month earlier and continuing a deceleration that began in September 2022.

"While wages didn't drive the recent bout of inflation, now that pay growth has retreated, any risk of a wage-price spiral has all but disappeared," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at the ADP.

"We're returning to a labor market that's very much aligned with pre-pandemic hiring," said Richardson.

Job growth in the private sector totaled a downwardly revised 101,000 in November, the report showed.