The employment report prepared by Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and Moody's Analytics showed on Wednesday the U.S. private employers added 291,000 jobs in February.

Economists had expected a gain of 170,000.

The increase for January was revised down to 209,000 from the originally reported 291,000.

"The labor market remains firm, as private-sector payrolls continued to expand in February," said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. "Job creation remained heavily concentrated in large companies, which continue to be the strongest performer."

Meanwhile, Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, noted, "COVID-19 will need to break through the job market firewall if it is to do significant damage to the economy. The firewall has some cracks, but judging by the February employment gain it should be strong enough to weather most scenarios."