Finally, after all of the bad news we have been hearing for the past four years or so, there is some good news. As a matter of fact, although the news is not as good as we would like, I have seen several articles that talk about economic growth and job increases since the late fall.
ADP is one of the largest payroll processing companies in the U.S. so their numbers do not always match the government’s numbers, but the are reporting their workforce figures directly from the data they see in a company’s payroll figures. Here is the gist of the article:
“The jobs recovery gathered pace as a measure of private-sector hiring surged in December and claims for unemployment benefits fell, suggesting the battered labor market may continue to strengthen in 2012.
The ADP National Employment Report’s December job tally of 325,000 surprised economists who had expected a gain of roughly half that size. It was also above the 204,000 private jobs added in November.
Many economists struck a note of caution, though, saying the number may have been distorted by seasonal factors
Joel Prakken, of Macroeconomic Advisers, which helps produce the survey, told reporters job readings tend to be inflated at year-end as employers keep workers on payrolls for accounting reasons, and the reading could be revise