Dementia Don's Cratering Job Market

Wednesday, December 03, 2025

The U.S. labor market slowdown intensified in November as private companies cut 32,000 workers, with small businesses hit the hardest, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. With worries intensifying over the domestic jobs picture, ADP indicated the issues were worse than anticipated. The payrolls decline marked a sharp step down from October, which saw an upwardly revised gain of 47,000 positions, and was well below the Dow Jones consensus estimate from economists for an increase of 40,000. Larger businesses, entailing companies with 50 or more employees, actually reported a net gain of 90,000 workers.

Posted by Nixon at 10:33 AM | 4 COMMENTS | permalink

However, establishments with fewer than 50 workers saw a decline of 120,000, including a drop of 74,000 among firms with 20 to 49 employees. The total loss was the biggest drop since March 2023.

Education and health services led gainers with 33,000 hires, while leisure and hospitality added 13,000. But a broad-based decline across industries drove the total lower.

The biggest loss came in professional and business services, which saw a decline of 26,000. Others shedding jobs included information services (-20,000), manufacturing (-18,000), and financial activities and construction, both of which saw losses of 9,000.

The rate of pay also slowed, with workers staying in their jobs seeing a 4.4% year-over-year increase, down 0.1 percentage point from October.

Comments

Small businesses hemorrhaged 120,000 jobs last month. Are we great yet?

#1 | Posted by qcp at 2025-12-03 11:08 AM