Private sector adds 40,000 jobs

U.S. companies in the private sector added 40,000 jobs in December — but it was the smallest payroll increase since August, according to the monthly ADP National Employment Report. Financial services firms trimmed 5,000, which marks the third decline during the last five months. ADP said that 173,000 jobs were added in November, revised down from the 189,000 originally estimated. Employment in the service-producing sector of the economy increased 71,000, while employment in the goods-producing sector declined 31,000, including 16,000 manufacturing jobs, ADP reported. Construction companies slashed 17,000 jobs, marking the thirteenth consecutive monthly decline, bringing the total decline in construction jobs since August 2006 to 199,000. Automatic Data Processing Inc. of Rosedale, N.J. provides payroll and human-resources services at more than 500,000 companies. In other employment data, initial jobless claims decreased to 336,000 in the week that ended Dec. 29 from a two-year high of 357,000 the prior week, according to the Department of Labor. In a third report, the number of job cuts planned by large corporations fell 39% to 44,416, marking the lowest level of the year, according to monthly data released by Challenger Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement consulting firm. For all of 2007, announced layoffs fell to 768,264, down from 839,822 in 2006, according to the report.