U.S. private employers added 201,000 jobs in March, while February's figure was revised down slightly, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.
The data was largely in line with expectations. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP Employer Services report would show a gain of 203,000 jobs. The report is jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers LLC.
February's figure was revised down to 208,000 from 217,000.
"Basically the number was very much in line with expectations and shows that the labor recovery continues at a reasonable pace," said David Katz, chief investment officer at Matrix Asset Advisors in New York.
"It looks like the U.S. economic recovery continues, and the improving labor market should be a buffer against weak areas like real estate."
U.S. Treasury prices rose modestly immediately after the data and the U.S. dollar trimmed gains against the euro and yen, while U.S. stock index futures remained higher.
The ADP figures come ahead of the government's much more comprehensive labor market report on Friday, which includes both public and private sector employment.
That report is expected to show the economy created about 190,000 jobs in March based on a Reuters poll of analysts, while private payrolls are forecast to rise by 200,000.
Economists often refer to the ADP report to fine-tune their expectations for the payrolls numbers, though it is not always accurate in predicting the outcome.
A separate report Wednesday showed the number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell in March, despite continued downsizing in the public sector.
Employers announced 41,528 planned job cuts this month, down 18 percent from the 50,702 cuts announced in February, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
The March figure was down 39 percent from a year ago, when 67,611 job cuts were announced, the report said.
Overall, 130,749 job cuts were announced in the first three months of the year, marking the lowest rate of downsizing since 1995, when employers announced 97,716 first-quarter job cuts, Challenger, Gray said.
Announced first-quarter job cuts for 2011 were also down 28 percent compared with the same period of 2010, when there were 181,183 planned cuts, the report said.
Government has led job reduction this year, with 19,099 planned cuts in March -- the highest in 12 months, the report said.
There were 41,929 government job cuts announced in the first three months of 2011 -- a 33 percent drop from the 62,700 government layoffs announced in the first three months of last year.