U.S. companies added more jobs than expected last month, suggesting the labor market may be stabilizing.

Private-sector payrolls increased by 62,000 in March after a similar advance in the prior month, according to ADP Research data out Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 40,000 advance.

The advance in hiring was led by the education and health services and construction sectors. Education and health services have been responsible for the majority of job creation in the last year. Trade, transportation and utilities as well as manufacturing saw job losses.

“Overall hiring is steady, but job growth continues to favor certain industries, including health care,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP and a contributor to Bloomberg Television, said in a statement.

The report indicates the labor market remained in a “low-hire, low-fire” state in March. Tax cuts could be providing a boost to investment and job growth, though the Iran war risks impeding future hiring by driving up energy prices and denting consumer sentiment if hostilities continue.

The ADP report, published in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, showed workers who changed jobs saw a 6.6% increase in pay from a year earlier. Wage growth for those who stayed put was unchanged at 4.5%.

Job gains in March were concentrated in establishments with fewer than 20 employees, according to the report.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said this week that while policymakers don’t yet know what the economic effects of the war in Iran will be, “we do think our policy is in a good place for us to wait and see.”

The government’s employment report due Friday is expected to show hiring rebounded in March after a strike by more than 30,000 Kaiser Permanente employees and severe winter weather in February contributed to one of the largest employment declines since the pandemic.

ADP bases its findings on payrolls covering more than 26 million U.S. private-sector employees. U.S. private-sector employees.

(With assistance from Jarrell Dillard.)

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