U.S. employment in the private sector saw continued growth in the month of February, according to a report released by payroll processor Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) on Wednesday, with the pace of job growth exceeding economist estimates. ADP said private sector employment increased by 216,000 jobs in February following an upwardly revised increase of 173,000 jobs in January. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 203,000 jobs compared to the increase of 170,000 jobs that had been reported for the previous month. Carlos Rodriguez, President and CEO of ADP, said, "This month's employment gains in The ADP National Employment Report continue to be solid, with job growth averaging just over 200,000 for the past five months." "Also, for February, virtually every sector of the economy added jobs - something I hope will continue for the rest of 2012," he added. The continued private sector job growth was partly due to a notable increase in employment in the service-providing sector, which added 170,000 jobs in February following an increase of 149,000 jobs in January. Employment in the goods-producing sector increased by 46,000 jobs in February compared to an increase of 24,000 jobs in the previous month. ADP noted that manufacturing employment increased by 21,000 jobs in February, while construction employment rose by 16,000 jobs and the financial services sector added 14,000 jobs.