ADP-Moody's: U.S. added 202,000 jobs in December

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy added 202,000 jobs for the month of December, a private analysis by ADP and Moody's Analytics said Wednesday.

The report said the gains were fueled by a rise of 173,000 jobs in the service sector.

Service jobs in trade, transportation and utilities provided the most additions, followed by 61,000 in professional and business services and 46,000 in healthcare.

"As 2019 came to a close, we saw expanded payrolls in December," Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said in a statement. "The service providers posted the largest gain since April, driven mainly by professional and business services. Job creation was strong across companies of all sizes, led predominantly by midsized companies."

The leisure and hospitality markets lost 21,000 jobs, while the information sector lost 14,000 and manufacturing 7,000.

"Looking through the monthly vagaries of the data, job gains continue to moderate," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. "Manufacturers, energy producers and small companies have been shedding jobs. Unemployment is low, but will begin to rise if job growth slows much further."

While December's numbers show the greatest growth in eight months, it still trails the increase from December 2018, the ADP-Moody's report said.

The Labor Department will issue its December jobs report on Friday.