Maintaining a strong pace of employment growth, companies added a solid 214,000 jobs in February, payroll firm ADP reported on March 2.
"Despite the turmoil in the global financial markets, the American job machine remains in high gear," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics.
"Energy and manufacturing remain blemishes on the job market, but other sectors continue to add strongly to payrolls. Full-employment is fast approaching."
Manufacturing continued to struggle with the weakness in oil prices, shedding 9,000 jobs during the month. But companies in professional/business services added 59,000 jobs and construction companies added 27,000 positions.
The February figures bested analyst expectations for private-sector job gains of 190,000.
"The ADP data continue to show no sign of any significant slowing on a trend basis," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics.
"The continued strength is consistent with the message from jobless claims."
The ADP report comes ahead of Friday's U.S. Department of Labor February jobs report. Analysts expect the economy added 190,000 jobs during the month and that unemployment held steady at 4.9%.
