Private sector adds whopping 271,000 jobs in December

The private sector added 271,000 jobs in December, according to ADP's national employment report released on Thursday — significantly more than the 178,000 that economists expected.

Why it matters: It's good news ahead of Friday’s jobs report. November's miss in ADP's report, coupled with the Labor Department's weaker-than-expected payrolls in November, stoked concerns that job growth was beginning to retreat from its strong pace. "At the current pace of job growth, low unemployment will get even lower," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said in the release.