WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses added a healthy 214,000 jobs last month, another sign that the U.S. job market remains resilient despite economic weakness overseas and tumult in financial markets.
Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that the better-than-expected hiring by private companies was up from 205,000 in January.
"It's a very strong report. The labor market is healthy," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "This is very good news particularly in the context of the turmoil in the financial markets in the past several months."
Moody's helps compile the ADP numbers.
Professional and business services companies added 59,000 jobs and construction firms hired 27,000.
The ADP report comes out two days before the U.S. government's official jobs report.
Economists surveyed by the data firm FactSet predict that American employers — including government — added 195,000 jobs last month, up from 151,000 in January. They expect that unemployment rate remained at an eight-year low 4.9 percent.
