U.S. businesses slowed hiring in November, adding 307,000 workers to their private payrolls -- missing the benchmark that analysts had expected and probably heightening concerns that companies and households will continue to struggle without further action from Congress to deliver coronavirus aid.
The figures reported Wednesday by ADP Research Institute mark a disappointing departure from the 475,000 jobs that some economists had predicted.
November's tally failed to improve upon or even match the gains of 405,000 jobs from October, suggesting that the economic recovery is slowing, even as hopes of a viable coronavirus vaccine have lifted business prospects and have begun to outline a potential end to the pandemic.
The decelerating gains were the lowest payroll numbers ADP has reported since the summer.
"While November saw employment gains, the pace continues to slow," Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said in a statement. "Job growth remained positive across all industries and sizes."
Nearly 90% of the job gains in November were in service-providing sectors, ADP reported, including leisure and hospitality, health care and administrative services, amounting to 276,000 roles. Construction jobs, meanwhile, increased by 22,000. Across all industries, medium-size businesses experienced the greatest gains, adding 139,000 jobs last month, while small businesses increased their ranks by 110,000, followed by the largest companies, which added 58,000 jobs.
ADP's data is subject to revision and may not offer a complete picture of the U.S. labor market. On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its monthly employment report, which does not always align with ADP's numbers.
But the payroll data offers another worrying sign amid surging coronavirus infections. U.S. health officials have reported more than 100,000 new daily cases for nearly 30 consecutive days. Hospitalizations over the past seven days also jumped.
As the virus spreads and millions of Americans feel the crush of financial hardship, Congress has for months faced calls to fund another round of emergency relief. Lawmakers this week have shown the first signs of movement in weeks, as a bipartisan group introduced an aid package totaling about $908 billion on Tuesday.
The effort arrived as other powerful figures aimed to steer the direction of economic relief, highlighting the lack of consensus in Washington and the protracted disagreements over the size of a deal and key provisions. President-elect Joe Biden has called for more government spending. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Democrats are crafting new proposals of their own.
The latest jobs figures may add a sense of urgency to unify the clashing approaches. But further political uncertainty remains. Two January runoff elections in Georgia will decide the makeup of the Senate, either granting Democrats control of Congress and the White House or allowing Republicans to maintain their slim Senate majority.
More than 20 million Americans were receiving some form of unemployment aid as of early November, according to the Labor Department. The last two weekly unemployment reports show further worrisome signs, as new unemployment claims rose, and economists say further inaction from Congress in the face of a public-health crisis could derail the fledgling recovery.
Separately, optimism among small-business owners has fallen to a four-year low as the pandemic drags on.
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That's one finding from a Bank of America Corp. survey of more than 1,000 entrepreneurs between July and September. Only 39% of respondents expect the local economy to improve in the next 12 months, down from 51% at the start of the year, the survey found. Hiring plans and revenue expectations are at the lowest levels since 2012 and 2013. Still, 7 in 10 small-business owners say they plan to keep staffing levels steady in 2021.
"Although we've had tough times this year, as we look ahead, there is optimism out there," Sharon Miller, Bank of America's head of small business, said, adding that the conclusion of the U.S. presidential election and prospects for coronavirus vaccines are helping to bolster the outlook. "With certainty comes economic prosperity."
The bank, based in Charlotte, N.C., is the nation's largest lender to small enterprises. It processed more that 300,000 loans as part of the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program, aiming to keep companies afloat as the coronavirus shuttered the economy.
Information for this article was contributed by Hamza Shaban of The Washington Post and by Lananh Nguyen of Bloomberg News.