US private sector hiring showed modest but sustained improvement in early December, with employers adding an average of 11,500 jobs per week over the four weeks ending December 6, 2025, according to the latest NER Pulse report from Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Research.
The figures signal a slowdown from the upwardly revised 17,500 weekly jobs added in the prior reporting period, but they mark the third consecutive week of positive hiring after a weak start to November. The data highlights a gradual stabilisation in the labour market following a period of contraction, when job losses averaged 11,750 in the week ending November 8.
The NER Pulse, which offers a high-frequency snapshot of U.S. employment trends, is calculated using a four-week moving average of seasonally adjusted data and is published with a two-week lag. It draws from the same dataset used in ADP’s monthly National Employment Report and is produced in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.Throughout the autumn, weekly employment data showed significant volatility.
Job creation ranged from gains of around 11,750 in late September to losses of 7,750 in mid-September, reflecting ongoing caution among employers amid economic uncertainty. ADP noted that the weekly estimates remain preliminary and may be revised as additional data is incorporated. No NER Pulse update will be published on December 30, as that week aligns with the reference period for the monthly employment report.