National employment grew by 127K jobs in November, ADP says; annual pay up 7.6%

Team work concept. Business people joining hands.

November saw the nation’s employment level rise, according to the monthly ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday, as the private sector added 127,000 jobs. The ADP report released Tuesday also showed annual pay was up 7.6% year-over-year.

Job creation slowed by the most since January 2021, led by construction and other interest rate-sensitive sectors. Consumer-facing segments — including health care and hospitality — were bright spots.

“Turning points can be hard to capture in the labor market, but our data suggest that Federal Reserve tightening is having an impact on job creation and pay gains,” Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP, said. “In addition, companies are no longer in hyper-replacement mode. Fewer people are quitting, and the post-pandemic recovery is stabilizing.”

In terms of company size, large establishments fared the worst, losing 68,000 jobs. Small establishments lost 51,000 positions and medium-sized businesses gained 246,000 spots.

Looking at where these positions were added, the service-providing sector led the way with 213,000 positions filled; leisure/hospitality saw a 224,000-slot increase, while education/health services added 55,000 jobs.

Pay growth remained elevated even as it continued a modest but broad-based deceleration. Job changers notched their fifth straight slowdown and the smallest increase in pay since January. Pay growth for job stayers edged down, too, led by leisure and hospitality, which had a rapid run-up in 2021 but has been falling since March.