ADP says job losses declined

ROSELAND, N.J., Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Automatic Data Processing said Wednesday that private sector job losses slowed for the eighth consecutive month October to November.

ADP revised it's September to October job losses from 203,000 to 195,000 and said the most recent month saw a loss of 169,000 additional jobs.

Job losses are slowing, but the aggregate number of losses continues to increase. Construction lost 44,000 jobs in the latest monthly report and have now lost 1.7 million jobs since January 2007. It was the 34rd consecutive month of job losses in the sector, ADP said.

Goods producing positions shrank by 88,000 jobs with 44,000 manufacturing jobs erased in the month. Service producing jobs fell by 81,000, ADP said.

Firms with 500 or more employees lost 44,000 jobs, while medium-sized companies lost 57,000. Small companies, those with fewer than 50 workers, shed an additional 68,000 jobs, the smallest monthly total since July 2008.

The report comes in two days before the Department of Labor's report on the unemployment rate, which is predicted to have remained stable at 10.2 percent in November.