Private sector employment increased by 742,000 jobs in April, boosted by the leisure and hospitality sector, and while it represents the strongest month since September, it’s still short of estimates, according to ADP.

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“The labor market continues an upward trend of acceleration and growth, posting the strongest reading since September 2020,” Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP, said in a statement. “Service providers have the most to gain as the economy reopens, recovers and resumes normal activities and are leading job growth in April. While payrolls are still more than 8 million jobs short of pre-COVID-19 levels, job gains have totaled 1.3 million in the last two months after adding only about 1 million jobs over the course of the previous five months.”

This follows the addition of 565,000 jobs in March, but it falls short of the 800,000 Dow Jones estimate, according to Barron’s.

The leisure and hospitality sector took the lead, adding 237,000 jobs in April. The trade, transportation and utilities sector added 155,000 jobs, followed by the professional and business sector, with 104,000 jobs added, according to ADP.

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Large businesses added the most, with 277,000 jobs, followed by small businesses, with 235,000 new jobs, and midsized businesses with 230,000 jobs.

The private payroll report is ahead of Friday’s U.S. jobs data. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal are expecting one million new jobs created last month, according to Barron’s.

“I expect the reflation to be the major play for the rest of the week, as besides the inflation worries, the expectation of another solid month in terms of U.S. jobs data should keep investors away from the volatile tech stocks,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said in a note to clients, according to Barron’s.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: US Companies Added Most Jobs Since September, but Still Short of Estimates