ADP Report Shows Biggest Job Losses in 7 Years

The ADP employment report for November showed 250,000 jobs were lost in the US economy, the biggest decline in the ADP series for 7 years. There is not much to say about the report except that it is ugly all round. For the second consecutive month jobs were shed in the small business sector, the one category that had been adding jobs for most of 2008. From the report:

This is the second consecutive monthly decline in small business employment reported by the ADP Report since November of 2002. Falling employment at medium and small firms clearly indicates that the recession has now spread well beyond manufacturing and housing-related activities.

Economists are expecting job losses of around 325,000 for Friday's Non-farm payroll report and given that the ADP report has been consistently on the low side of the BLS number, that looks like a fair estimate in light of today's ADP report.