by Calculated Risk on 1/06/2010 08:22:00 AM

ADP reports:

Nonfarm private employment decreased 84,000 from November to December 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report®. The estimated change of employment from October to November was revised by 24,000, from a decline of 169,000 to a decline of 145,000.

The decline in December was the smallest since March of 2008.

Note: ADP is private nonfarm employment only (no government jobs).
The BLS reported a 18,000 decrease in nonfarm private employment in November (11,000 total nonfarm), and ADP originally estimated November private nonfarm employment losses at 169,000; so ADP wasn't close at all to the BLS number last month - although the trend is the same.

On the Challenger job-cut report from MatketWatch: Layoffs drop 10% to 45,094 in December, Challenger says

Big U.S. companies announced 45,094 job reductions in December, the fewest since the recession began two years ago. December's total was down 10% from November's 50,349 and down 73% from December 2008.

In the fourth quarter, companies announced just 151,121 job reductions, the fewest since early 2000 and down 67% from the fourth quarter of 2008, Challenger said Wednesday.

For all of 2009, big companies announced 1.288 million job cuts, up about 5% from 2008's total and the most since 2002. About 70% of the year's total occurred in the first six months of the year.

The BLS reports Friday, and the consensus is for no change in net jobs, and a 10.0% unemployment rate for December.