The employment report prepared by Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and Moody's Analytics showed on Wednesday the U.S. private employers cut 27,000 jobs in March. That marked the first decrease in private payrolls since September 2017.

Economists had expected a drop of 150,000.

The increase for February was revised down to 179,000 from the originally reported 183,000.

"It is important to note that the ADP National Employment Report is based on the total number of payroll records for employees who were active on a company's payroll through the 12th of the month. This is the same time period the Bureau of Labor and Statistics uses for their survey," said Ahu Yildirmaz, co-head of the ADP Research Institute. "As such, the March NER does not fully reflect the most recent impact of COVID-19 on the employment situation, including unemployment claims reported on March 26, 2020."