by Calculated Risk on 1/03/2013 08:19:00 AM

From ADP:

Private sector employment increased by 215,000 jobs from November to December, according to the December ADP National Employment Report®, which is produced by Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP®) ... in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis. The November 2012 report, which reported job gains of 118,000, was revised upward by 30,000 to 148,000 jobs.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “The job market held firm in December despite the intensifying fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington. Businesses even became somewhat more aggressive in their hiring at year end. Most encouraging is the revival in construction jobs, although the December gain was likely lifted by rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy. The job market ended 2012 on a more solid footing.”

This was above the consensus forecast for 150,000 private sector jobs added in the ADP report. Note:  The BLS reports on Friday, and the consensus is for an increase of 157,000 payroll jobs in December, on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis.

ADP hasn't been very useful in predicting the BLS report, but maybe the new method will work better. This is the 3rd month for the new method.