By Xavier Fontdegloria

The nonfarm private sector in the U.S. accelerated its hiring in March, creating the best monthly job growth since last September, signaling the economy is roaring back as virus cases drop and vaccinations ramp up.

Total U.S. nonfarm private employment increased by 517,000 in March, data from ADP National Employment Report showed Wednesday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal were expecting payrolls to rise by a similar 525,000.

In February, the U.S. private sector registered a gain of 176,000 jobs, up from an initial estimate of 117,000.

"We saw marked improvement in March's labor market data, reporting the strongest gain since September 2020," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.

Medium businesses, between 50 and 499 employees, are the ones which added the most jobs with an increase of 188,000. Small businesses, with a maximum of 49 employees, registered 174,000 payroll gains and large businesses, those of at least 500 workers, created 155,000 jobs.

The service-providing sector created 437,000 jobs, particularly in the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 169,000 jobs. The goods-producing sector gained 80,000 jobs, the data showed.

"Job growth in the service sector significantly outpaced its recent monthly average ... This sector has the most opportunity to improve as the economy continues to gradually reopen and the vaccine is made more widely available," Ms. Richardson said.

"We are continuing to keep a close watch on the hardest hit sectors but the groundwork is being laid for a further boost in the monthly pace of hiring in the months ahead," she said.

The report, carried out by the ADP Research Institute along with Moody's Analytics, is based on data through the 12th of the month.

The U.S. Department of Labor is expected to release its March employment report, which covers the same period as the ADP National Employment Report, on Friday. Economists are expecting it to show nonfarm payrolls up by 675,000 for the month and the unemployment rate down to 6%.

Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at xavier.fontdegloria@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 31, 2021 08:49 ET (12:49 GMT)

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