ADP estimates 215,000 jobs created in Dec.

Private sector employers added 215,000 jobs in December, beating expectations, as construction surged and businesses of nearly all sizes added workers, according to a monthly survey by payroll-processing company ADP.

In another report Thursday, the Labor Department said weekly claims for unemployment benefits rose 10,000 to 372,000 in the latest week.

The hiring reflected in the ADP report defied expectations that companies were holding back because of worries about the fiscal cliff, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, which produces the report with ADP.

The construction industry alone added 39,000 workers during the month, more than offsetting a drop of 11,000 in manufacturing. Based on employer size, only the smallest firms, with 1 to 19 employees, showed losses last month and they totaled 6,000.

In the last year, private employers have added 1.7 million jobs, ADP said.

``The clearest point in the data is that the fiscal cliff debate has not seemed to do any significant damage,'' Zandi said on a conference call with reporters.

"It's very positive, because there is more fiscal debate to come,'' as Congress turns from the tax bill it approved this week to considering spending cuts and an increase in the debt ceiling, Zandi said.

The gain in construction was probably driven by recovery efforts following Superstorm Sandy, but smaller monthly gains are likekly to be sustained as commercial construction picks up this year, Zandi said.

The Federal Reserve, which has been trying to stimulate the economy by keeping interest rates low, is likely to be heartened by the news, but will continue its easy-money policy, Zandi predicted.

``I don't think they'll think it means we're out of the woods — I certainly don't,'' he said.

In the next few months, job growth is likely to stay close to the 150,000-jobs-per-month pace it has sustained during the recovery to date, he said.

The ADP report comes a day ahead of the government's closely-followed report on employment. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the government to say the economy gained a net 155,000 jobs in the private and government sectors in December. The most bullish economist predicted 225,000 jobs and the most pessimistic estimate came in at 125,000.

The Bloomberg survey predicts the unemployment rate will rise to 7.8% from 7.7% in November. Last month's rate dropped 0.2 percentage points because more workers reported they had stopped looking for work.

ADP also revised its estimate of November hiring, saying companies added 148,000 workers in that month. That's 30,000 more than the original estimate released in early December.

The revised ADP report for November brings the payroll firm's estimate of job growth to within 1,000 new jobs of the government's initial estimate. The ADP report has been criticized for being an unreliable indicator of what the government will report, but Moody's has adjusted the methodology since it began to work with ADP in the fall, Zandi said.

In the unemployment claims report, the winter holidays likely distorted the data for a second week.

The Labor Department said weekly applications rose 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 372,000, while the previous week's total was revised higher.

Many state unemployment offices were closed last week for the New Year's holiday. As a result, the department relied on estimates for nine states. Two weeks ago, the department estimated 19 states because of Christmas closings.

In a typical week, the government estimates only one or two states.

Also Thursday, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said job cuts announced in December fell 43% from November and 22% from December 2011. Overall, 2012 showed the fewest job cuts since 1997, the firm said.