ADP jobs report January 2026:
The U.S. labor market barely budged in January, according to a Wednesday report from payroll processing company ADP; Hiring fell short of even weak expectations.
Private companies added just 22,000 positions for the month, and that number would have been negative if not for a 74,000 hiring increase in the education and health care category. The total was up from a downwardly revised increase of 37,000 in December and below Dow Jones’ consensus estimate of 45,000.
The report begins 2026 essentially on the same note 2025 ended on: A lackluster job market amid low hiring and low fever will likely do little to quell Federal Reserve policymakers’ fears that more support may be needed.
“Hiring is softening. It continues a pattern that we’ve noticed for the last three years,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, told CNBC. “Employers are very reluctant to hire in the current economy.”
Richardson noted that benchmark revisions the firm has applied to its own data show job gains in 2025 are weaker than currently reported (about 18,000 for the month, or 216,000 for the year).
Excluding healthcare-related jobs, which were the main driver behind employment growth last year, financial activities added 14,000 positions while construction increased by 9,000, and both trade, transportation and utilities, and the entertainment and hospitality industries contributed 4,000 positions.
However, many sectors reported losses.
Professional and business services fell by 57,000, the other services category fell by 13,000, and manufacturing fell by 8,000. All but 1,000 net jobs came from the services sector.
In terms of size, companies employing between 50 and 499 workers added all jobs; While small companies remained steady, the number of large employers decreased by 18,000. Due to rounding, totals do not add up exactly.
Wage increases were little changed from December; Those who stayed in jobs saw growth of 4.5%.
The ADP report usually precedes the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ more closely watched nonfarm payrolls report, which would normally be released on Friday. But the partial government shutdown is once again delaying the release of the BLS, pending resolution of the impasse.
