U.S. companies scaled back hiring in November, with manufacturers reducing headcount to the lowest level since early 2022, adding to evidence of a cooling labor market, Bloomberg News reported. Private payrolls increased 103,000 last month and October’s reading was revised lower, according to figures published by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a reading of 130,000. Service-providing sectors, including education and health services as well as trade and transportation, drove the advance. Leisure and hospitality, which has been a major driver of job creation during the pandemic recovery, cut jobs for the first time since February 2021. “That boost is behind us, and the return to trend in leisure and hospitality suggests the economy as a whole will see more moderate hiring and wage growth in 2024,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in the release.
