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US private sector 'lost 693,000 jobs in December'
2009-01-07
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US private sector lost 693,000 jobs in December, according to a survey Wednesday highlighting a deepening recession in the world's biggest economy. The December job decline in non farm private employment, revealed in the ADP National Employment Report, was far bigger than 493,000 job cuts expected by analysts in the last month of 2008. Some 476,000 job losses were reported in November, said the ADP report, pointing to deterioration in jobs in small and medium-sized firms with losses at big firms increasing as well. "Sharply falling employment at medium- and small-size businesses clearly indicates that the recession has now spread well beyond manufacturing and housing-related activities," ADP said. Employment in the service-providing sector fell by 473,000 in December and by 220,000 in the goods-producing sector, the 23rd consecutive monthly decline, according to the report. Some 120,000 jobs were shed in the manufacturing sector, marking its 27th decline over the last 28 months, it said. The ADP employment report is "shockingly awful," said Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist of High Frequency Economics. The report came ahead of Friday's official US payrolls report, which some said could be even bleaker. "If the recent relationship between the ADP numbers (after their recent revisions) and the official payroll data holds, then we should expect a number of about (minus) 700,000 on Friday, the biggest drop in 59 years," Shepherdson said. "Even the best case here, though,implies a payroll number of (minus) 568,000," he said. Retrenchment had cut 533,000 jobs from US payrolls in November, official data showed. The US jobless rate has risen to 6.7 percent, the highest since October 1993, with 2.7 million people having joined the jobless ranks since the recession began a year ago.
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