Listen to this article

Most American states are still experiencing bad conditions and increasing Covid-19 cases. The pandemic critically damaged economic and social activities in the country. On Wednesday, the ADP National Employment Report released. The report said the US private employers have resumed hiring in January during signs that new COVID-19 cases are falling and state governments are lifting lockdown measures implemented to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The report clearly indicated that private American companies added 174,000 jobs in January 2021, topping the 49,000-job increase that economists surveyed by Refinitiv had predicted. The increase followed a decline of the upwardly revised 78,000 in December 2020. It was the first time that employment shrank since the early days of the pandemic.

The vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, Ahu Yildirmaz issued a press statement. He said, “The labor market continues its slow recovery amid COVID-19 headwinds. Although job losses were previously concentrated among small and midsized businesses, we are now seeing signs of the prolonged impact of the pandemic on large companies as well”. The job losses were concentrated heavily in services-related businesses, which accounted for 156,000 of the total gain. It is noteworthy that the education and health services led those businesses with the creation of 54,000 more new jobs, however professional and business services added 40,000 positions.

Point to be noted that the leisure and hospitality industry is one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. Last month, the industry experienced its payroll increase by 35,000. The goods-producing sector, however, added 19,000 more jobs with the bulk of 18,000 stemming from construction. There were medium businesses with 50 to 499 employees who created the most jobs, expanding payroll by 84,000 last month. Small businesses added 51,000 jobs, and large businesses created just 39,000. The new ADP report precedes the Labor Department’s more closely watched jobs report, due Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. It is predicted to show the US economy added 50,000 jobs last month, up from December’s loss of 140,000.