ADP’s employment report was given to Gen Z Graduates of the Week: While private employment rose according to December data, that gain was offset by a sharp decline in professional and business services.
That’s not good news for graduates who have invested tens of thousands of dollars in tuition or who are hoping to pay off their debt load by finding positions similar to those their parents held previously. Instead, the industries that are emerging are those that require occupations or skills that have historically not required high-level academic qualifications.
ADP December report, Figures released yesterday showed that the private sector of the US economy added 41,000 jobs in the run-up to Christmas. This rebound may be partly related to seasonality around the holidays. But an optimist might suggest that hint at potential transformation A low-employment, low-fire environment in 2025.
The industries with the most new jobs were leisure and hospitality, with 24,000 new jobs, and trade and transport, with 11,000 new jobs. Conversely, sectors such as professional and business services lost 29,000 jobs, while information services lost 12,000 jobs.
The shift from white-collar hiring in offices (over-hired during the coronavirus pandemic) to blue-collar jobs in personal services, transportation and hospitality is something I’m concerned about.Align with Dr. Nella Richardson’s views on the labor market Overall: Change is so rapid that even year after year, labor market entrants face a new set of hurdles to jump.
ADP chief economist Richardson said recent graduates are struggling in the current job market. Answer from wealth “If you compare recent college graduates to their older brothers or sisters, it’s not the same job market,” she said during a media roundtable following the release of the December data. “If you’re looking for a job in 2023 and you’re a young person, you’re probably going to name your price: you can work from home, you can work remotely, there are a lot of different benefits.”
But one industry where job growth will really accelerate in the coming years is health care. Education and health services added about 39,000 employees in December alone, according to the ADP report. Dr. Richardson explained that this is due to an aging population in need of care and current healthcare professionals retiring.
“Education and health services this “The healthcare industry has a huge demographic driver. A lot of retirees are also working in healthcare services, so it’s an industry that needs to be replenished,” Dr Richardson said.
As the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported in a press release last nightThe average population aged 65 and over is expected to grow faster than younger age groups, causing the average age of the population to rise. The Congressional Budget Office reports that by 2056, the number of people receiving Social Security will increase from 349 million in 2026 to 364 million.
The Job Market for Generation Z
Dr. Richardson added that in blue-collar and service-sector jobs, candidates are being promoted at the same rate as previous generations because labor is in such short supply.
This need has not diminished, but the need for office jobs has. The outlook for market entrants is bleak, she said: “Things have changed dramatically. While companies are retaining employees, they are not laying off employees. It takes longer to find a job and if you look at the hourly wage data for our new hires, you will see that wages have not increased over the past 16 months.”
While ADP’s research is based on private sector recruitment, Described as some kind of keyhole view (since it does not represent the economy as a whole), Dr. Richardson’s impression of the job market downturn is consistent with publicly available data. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) survey released yesterday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the number of job openings was almost unchanged at 7.1 million in November, a decrease of 885,000 from the same period last year. Likewise, headcount and growth were flat at 5.1 million and 3.2% respectively.
“So what should I tell my college-age son?” Dr. Richardson added. “My advice to them is to follow your passion, which is terrible paternalistic advice. If I could make this more macro, I think things related to production will probably do well in the next two to three years. Obviously, there are jobs related to AI, but you have to be careful about that: It’s the deep expertise rather than the broad skills that seem to pay off in tech.”
“We do see some growth, so there may be some green shoots in financial accounting. The overall trends don’t tell the whole story, and there are still places to find jobs.”