ADP Report: Small Business Jobs Down 13,000 in December

The ADP National Employment Report has some distressing numbers across the board. For small business, it was a loss of 13,000 jobs. And overall, nationally 123,000 jobs were lost for the month of December.

And while the pandemic is in great part responsible for these numbers, this is the first decline since April 2020. This is what Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said in the press release.

Ahu goes on to say, “As the impact of the pandemic on the labor market intensifies, December posted the first decline since April 2020.” Adding, “The job losses were primarily concentrated in retail and leisure and hospitality.”

December 2020 ADP Small Business Report

Small business employment greatly contributes to the overall job numbers in the U.S., so declines in this segment are worrying. But not all the small business sectors were down. While the goods-producing sector was down by 19,000, the service-providing sector was up by 6,000 jobs.

When it comes to business size very small businesses with 1-19 employees were hit the hardest with -16,000 jobs. On the other hand, those with 20-49 employees faired better by adding 3,000 jobs.

Franchises Also Down

While franchises only lost 5,300 jobs in December, some of the segments did well. Auto parts and dealers were the biggest winners with 9,100 jobs, with real estate at 300, and food retailers at 100 jobs.

On the downside, restaurants lost 6,700 jobs, which is not surprising considering many of the closures and restrictions across the country. Likewise, accommodations was also down with 4,500 lost jobs and business services also came in with 1,300 fewer jobs.

National Employment Report

With a loss of 123,000 jobs in nonfarm private sector employment, the national numbers were grim in December. The one bright spot overall is midsized companies with 50-499 employees, which gained 37,000 jobs.

However, small and large businesses were responsible for losing 160,000 jobs for the month. Segment responsible for job gains are financial activities (2,000 jobs), construction (3,000 jobs), education and health (8,000 jobs), and professional and business (12,000 jobs).

Again, the hardest hit segment is leisure and hospitality with 58,000 job losses and trade, transportation, and utilities losing another 50,000 jobs.