693,000

According to a private report based on payroll data, businesses in the U.S. shed 693,000 jobs in December. The report comes from ADP Employer services.

Companies are accelerating the pace of firings as the recession plaguing the world’s largest economy heads into a second year.

ADP includes only private employment and does not take into account hiring by government agencies, which is included in the monthly payroll report.

The ADP report is based on data from about 400,000 businesses with approximately 24 million workers on payrolls.

Is there any good news out there on the economic horizon these days? Too many people in my circle are unemployed and having no real luck finding jobs. We are in deep trouble as a nation and must turn this around soon if we are to avoid much more trouble.

Peace.