Much More of Much Less Demand

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange moments before the closing bell, in New York City, on Dec. 1, 2008 in this file image. The Dow closed down nearly 680 points following negative economic reports. The National Bureau of Economic Research said today that the U.S. economy has been in a recession since December 2007. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Commentary 

ADP wanted to get its employment numbers right, or as close to accurate as it could possibly reach. The payroll processing company had been maintaining its own set of labor estimates from all the way back to the start of the 21st century.