A month after reporting the first loss since April, the U.S. employment picture bounced back in January as companies added 174,000 new jobs, according to a report Wednesday from payroll processing firm ADP.
The gain beat the 50,000 estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones and improved on the 78,000 December decline, a number that was revised higher from the initially reported drop of 123,000.
ADP went on to say services-related businesses accounted for 156,000 of the total gain, led by health care and social assistance with 48,000 and professional and business services with 40,000.
The battered leisure and hospitality industry, which is still down about four million jobs from pre-pandemic levels, added 35,000 for the month, according to ADP. That has come as some governments relaxed restrictions imposed around the holiday as COVID cases spiked.
On the goods-producing side, construction added 18,000 jobs while manufacturing saw a 1,000 gain. Trade, transportation and utilities rose 16,000.
Mid-size companies with between 50 and 499 workers created the most jobs at 84,000. Small firms added 51,000 while big companies contributed 39,000.
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