257,000 net new jobs in the private sector were added in December, an increase over the previous month's 211,000, and a sign that the Department of Labor's comprehensive labor report, due this Friday, will remain positive for December 2015. Payroll firm Automatic Data Processing (ADP) released data in conjunction with analysis from Moody Analytics that exceeded economist expectations which had predicted slower job growth. December's job growth was the highest since December 2014. Construction and manufacturing firms experienced continuous job gains, while energy companies were the only ones to reduce employment due to low oil prices.
See "Private-sector hiring accelerated in December to 257,000, ADP says", Jim Puzzanghera, LA Times, January 6, 2016