U.S. private-sector employment rose by 183,000 jobs in January over the prior month as pay increased by an average annual rate of 4.7%, signaling a potential upturn in overall hiring in the early weeks of 2025, according to payroll services provider ADP and the Digital Economy Lab at Stanford University.

“We had a strong start to 2025 but it masked a dichotomy in the labor market,” ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said in a statement Wednesday. “Consumer-facing industries drove hiring, while job growth was weaker in business services and production.”

The latest monthly tracking showed job gains led by trade and transportation at 56,000, hospitality and leisure at 54,000, and education and health services at 20,000. Manufacturing lost 13,000 jobs for the month.

Average year-over-year pay increases were led by industries including construction, financial services, and education and health services, all at 5% for January.

ADP-Stanford reporting is based on anonymous payroll data from ADP client companies. The monthly private-sector report is considered a preview of Labor Department reporting on all public and private employment along with the latest monthly unemployment rate, with January data scheduled for release on Feb. 7. 

Customers of Disney’s theme parks, along with ticket buyers for hit movie sequels to “Moana” and “The Lion King,” helped the company post a slight increase in revenue and profits from a year earlier in its first fiscal quarter of 2025.

But the Burbank, California-based media giant took a hit to its revenue of about $120 million from temporary closures caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, primarily affecting Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, the company reported Wednesday.

The Disney division that includes parks and experiences posted total income of $3.1 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 28, on par with a year earlier. Overall income for its domestic parks declined 5% from a year earlier, while its parks outside the U.S. posted a 28% increase.

Disney’s parks and experiences division, which also includes cruise ships, “demonstrated its enduring appeal as we continue investing strategically across the globe,” CEO Robert Iger said in a statement prior to an earnings call with analysts.

Disney previously announced plans for more than $60 billion in developments and improvements at its global parks over the next 10 years, including around $17 billion at Walt Disney World and $2 billion at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Still, the company closed a $1 billion Star Wars-themed hotel at Disney World in 2023 and is now in the process of converting it to office space.

Disney reported total revenue from all operations of $24.7 billion for the latest quarter, up from $23.5 billion a year earlier; as net income reached $2.6 billion, up from $1.9 billion a year earlier and topping analyst estimates. Like many of its media rivals, Disney continues to deal with declines in streaming subscribers and slow demand for TV and cable advertising.

Construction was among industries contributing to an overall slowdown in U.S. hiring at the end of 2024, possibly the result of severe winter weather that caused project delays, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors trade group.

Citing Labor Department figures, the group said construction firms had 217,000 job openings on the last day of December, down 55,000 from the prior month and posting 50% below the figure for December 2023.

“Construction industry hiring slowed to an unprecedented pace in December,” ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said in a statement, noting hiring was its lowest level since pandemic-affected April 2020. Potential causes for December’s drop included cold weather and slowing activity during the transition between presidential administrations, Basu said.

The trade group said hiring could pick back up during the first half of 2025. The group’s recent national survey found a majority of contractors plan to increase staffing over the next six months.