Jobs growth boost for US

US private employers hired staff at the fastest pace in 13 months in December, raising expectations that similar figures from the government will confirm the US economy was gathering steam at the end of last year.

Firms added 238,000 jobs last month after an upwardly revised 229,000 in November, the ADP National Employment Report showed yesterday.

It was the largest monthly gain since Nov 2012 and brought a three-month average of corporate hiring to nearly 225,000 a month, the fastest such pace in 21 months.

“We’re now going to start to see an economic recovery more typical of the economic recoveries we’ve seen historically,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, which jointly develops the report with payrolls processor ADP.

“It feels like the jobs market has kicked into a higher gear.”

The data was also likely a welcome affirmation of positive economic momentum for policy makers at the US Federal Reserve, who last month were confident enough in the recent improvement in activity to set plans to scale back their massive stimulus programme.

The report comes ahead of the government’s nonfarm payrolls report due tomorrow, a measure of the labour market that includes both public and private sector employment.

Analysts are looking for 196,000 jobs to have been added in December, and a rise in private payrolls of 195,000. Both numbers would represent slight declines from November.

Separately, applications for US home mortgages rose 2.6% in the latest week, rebounding from a 13-year low set at the end of last year, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Recent US data has pointed to an acceleration in economic conditions. On Tuesday, the Commerce Department said the November US trade deficit was the smallest in four years.

Also yesterday, retail industry tracker ShopperTrak said that sales rose 2.7% in the November-December holiday shopping season. &

- Reuters