Leisure and hospitality businesses like restaurants were among the biggest job losers in January 2022, payroll services firm ADP said.WASHINGTON - US private companies shed jobs last month for the first time since December 2020 as the Omicron coronavirus variant again complicated business -- a potential harbinger of bad news for the upcoming government employment report.
"The labour market recovery took a step back at the start of 2022 due to the effect of the Omicron variant and its significant, though likely temporary, impact to job growth," ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said. "We forecast the US payroll count turned negative in January with a net loss of 45,000 jobs -- the first decline in over a year," Lydia Boussour of Oxford Economics said, although she expects that seasonal adjustment factors will"soften the blow."