U.S. companies closed out 2017 with strong hiring in December, adding the most jobs in nine months.

Payroll processor ADP says that businesses added 250,000 jobs last month, up from 185,000 in November. The gains were led by robust hiring in health care, professional services such as accounting and engineering, and retail.

Private payroll gains in the month earlier were revised down to 185,000 from an originally reported 190,000 increase.

The report is jointly developed with Moody’s Analytics.

The ADP figures come ahead of the U.S. Labor Department’s more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which includes both public and private-sector employment.

Economists polled by Reuters are looking for U.S. private payroll employment to have grown by 185,000 jobs in December, down from 221,000 the month before. Total non-farm employment is expected to have changed by 190,000.

The unemployment rate is forecast to stay steady at the 4.1 percent recorded a month earlier.