Following November's dismal disappointing employment change (+66.9k - 2nd weakest since March 2010), analysts expected a rebound in jobs growth in December, and it rebounded dramatically.

November's +67k was revised dramatically higher to +124k and December printed +202k (vs +160k expectations). This is the highest employment gain since April

Source: Bloomberg

Both Services and Goods sectors added jobs, with a dramatic rebound in manufacturing...

Source: Bloomberg

“As 2019 came to a close, we saw expanded payrolls in December,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute.

“The service providers posted the largest gain since April, driven mainly by professional and business services. Job creation was strong across companies of all sizes, led predominantly by midsized companies.”

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “Looking through the monthly vagaries of the data, job gains continue to moderate. Manufacturers, energy producers and small companies have been shedding jobs. Unemployment is low, but will begin to rise if job growth slows much further.”