A first look at hiring in November shows 32,000 jobs were lost in the private sector

(CNN) — Small businesses are “starting to crack” amid a weakening economy, rising costs and fickle consumers; and they drove job losses in the US private sector in November, new data showed Wednesday.

Payroll giant ADP estimated that 32,000 jobs were lost in the private sector last month, a large drop-off from the upwardly revised 47,000 jobs gained in October.

The job losses were overwhelmingly at small establishments (classified as having between one and 49 employees), which shed an estimated 120,000 jobs last month. Medium and large businesses added 51,000 jobs and 39,000 jobs, respectively.

By industry, the losses were more broad based, with some of the deeper drops in industries such as professional and business services, information and manufacturing.

Economists were expecting t