MW Businesses add 41,000 jobs in December, ADP says. U.S. jobs market not getting any worse.

By Jeffry Bartash

Employment partly recovers at the end of 2025

American businesses created 41,000 new jobs in the final month of 2025, ADP said.

ADP said businesses created 41,000 jobs in December, suggesting a weak U.S. labor market showed mild improvement heading into the new year.

The health of the jobs market is the biggest worry of the Federal Reserve as it weighs whether to cut interest rates gain in 2026. Hiring has slowed rapidly since the spring and employment even fell for the first time since the pandemic.

The latest ADP report suggests the deterioration in the labor market may have eased. Employment rose in two of the last three months. Yet there's little evidence to indicate a sizable upswing in hiring is getting underway.

"Small establishments recovered from November job losses with positive end-of-year hiring, even as large employers pulled back," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, the nation's largest processor of payroll checks.

The ADP report, normally a second-tier labor-market gauge, has taken on greater importance due to delays in the publication of the official U.S. employment report tied to the government shutdown a few months ago.

The mainstay U.S. employment report is finally back on track. The January results will be published as normal on Friday, with Wall Street economists forecasting a 73,000 increase.

Unlike ADP, the Bureau of Labor Statistics survey includes new government jobs.

Big picture: Is a rough patch for the U.S. labor market over? The jury is still out, but the December ADP report offers at least some comfort.

Still, hardly any economist or business leader expects companies to ratchet up hiring in 2026. Jobs probably won't get much easier to find anytime soon.

Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and S&P 500 SPX were set to open mixed in Wednesday trading.

-Jeffry Bartash

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 07, 2026 08:25 ET (13:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.