Today’s ADP National Employment Report reinforces the message that the Obama administration has signaled over the last several months that the nation’s economy is in recovery. The ADP data indicates nonfarm private sector business increased by 209,000 over the last month. The automated payroll giant also revised upwards its December new jobs estimates by 9,000, and its January estimates by 14,000.

The ADP National Employment Report calculates a 164,000 jobs increase in the service-providing sector, and a 45,000 increase in the goods-producing sector. The greatest job growth was in small firms, those with up to 49 workers, showing an increase of 100,000 jobs. Medium sized firms, those with 50 to 499 workers, added 87,000 jobs and the majority (66,000) were in the service-providing sector. New hiring in large firms lagged in March. Only 22,000 new jobs were added in businesses with 500 or more workers. There was good news in the construction sector, adding 13,000 jobs in the sixth consecutive monthly gain in the sector. Employment in the financial services sector also increased by 8,000 in March, marking the eighth consecutive month that the sector experienced gains.

The ADP National Employment Report precedes Friday’s release of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Employment Situation Summary, the federal government’s official accounting of the nation’s employment picture.