Pasadena, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/07/2011 -- The latest ADP report on the private sector employment scenario says that 297,000 jobs were created in December. ADP is one of the largest payroll processing companies in America.

According to ADP’s data, November added a net total of only 92,000 jobs. In December, the number was expected to be around 100,000.

So the surprise figure of 297,000 jobs has been seized by several news organizations and being reported as being proof of a strong recovery. It was the biggest jump ever for ADP which has been tracking this data since 2000.

The news even resulted in the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the yen by 1.5%, and a cut in the prices of U.S. Treasury debt. Another bit of good news the markets got was a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. The outplacement firm’s report says that employers had plans for laying off 529,973 employees in 2010, considerably lower than 2009’s 1.29 million jobs cuts. The layoff plans for 2010 were also the lowest since 1997 for corporate downsizing.

Several commentators have expressed skepticism over the high numbers reported by the ADP report. They say that most of the huge hiring drives in December were by retail chains, restaurants, and bars for the holiday season. The real picture will emerge next month when January’s figures are released. Hound CEO A. Harrison Barnes says that although the number may have shot up because of temp hiring in the holiday season, he does see more job postings. Hound is a job search engine which collects job postings directly from employer websites. In the last seven days, it has been able to gather 71,000 jobs.