The U.S. saw surge of wage growth in 2021, as both job holders and job changers saw all-time highs of 5.9 percent and 8.0 percent respectively over the course of 2021.

That's according to the latest ADP Workforce Vitality Report, which showed the trend continued through the last month of the year, with December showing an overall increase of 4.4% on average for workers.

Younger job holders - 24 and younger - saw huge gains in December, coming in at at a healthy 13.1% increase. Overall employment growth increased by 5.0 percent in December 2021.

Interestingly, considering the pressures the sector has been facing, leisure and hospitality wages were basically flat in December, after coming off a surge of hiring and wage growth earlier in the year. The year end slow down may reflect uncertainty from those employers around how the omicron variant would impact their businesses.

That said, employment growth year-over-year increased 5.0 percent, with all sectors experiencing employment growth. While leisure and hospitality led the way with a 17.7 percent increase, overall employment levels for the sector remain below their high-water mark prior to the pandemic. However, wage growth for job holders and job switchers was the strongest in industries including professional business services (12.2 percent) and information technology (12.2 percent).

Across the U.S., all regions experienced wage growth over 3.0 percent. While job switchers saw record-setting wage growth, job switchers in the West and Northeast received the biggest gain at 9.2 percent and 9.0 percent. By firm size, midsized companies with 500 to 999 employees increased wages the fastest, up 9.1 percent in December 2021 from one year prior.

Wage gains for job switchers saw tremendous increases overall, with double digit increases for job switchers in industries including finance, information technology and professional business services with an average wage of $18.04 for females and $19.66 for males.

Across all age groups, wage growth was strongest among workers 24 years old and younger at 6.8 percent in December 2021. In contrast workers over 55, saw wage gains at just 2.7 percent. Wage gains for females outpaced male wages in December 2021, albeit from a lower base.

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