U.S. companies ramped up hiring in December, suggesting there’s still an appetite for workers in a cooling labor market. Private payrolls increased 164,000 last month after a revised 101,000 gain in November, according to figures published Thursday by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The reading came in above all but one estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The advance was led by service sectors including leisure and hospitality, education, and health services. The West and the Northeast added jobs, while the South and Midwest cut positions. The numbers highlight the resilience of the post-pandemic job market. Despite some signs of easing labor demand, firms are still hiring at a healthy pace, unemployment remains low, and employees continue to enjoy above-inflation wage gains. The government’s jobs report on Friday is projected to show private U.S. employers added some 130,000 positions last month.