Companies added 155,000 jobs for the month, a sharp increase from the upwardly revised 84,000 in February and better than the Dow Jones consensus forecast for 120,000, the payrolls processing firm said.

In comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in February and 143,000 jobs in January, making March the month with the highest number of job additions yet this year.

Among goods producing jobs, 21,000 manufacturing jobs were added, which is stronger-than-average.