Private-sector hiring surged in May, according to a report released Thursday.

Employers added a seasonally adjusted 253,000 during the month, payroll processor ADP said. Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, which helps produce the report, called job growth “rip-roaring.”

That was a much stronger pace of hiring than the Econoday consensus, which had called for 170,000 jobs. Economists watch ADP’s report for clues about the government’s monthly payroll data, due out Friday, though ADP has an imperfect record of forecasting the Labor Department’s numbers. The MarketWatch consensus for the government data is for a gain of 185,000 jobs.

Read: May hiring gains to reflect warming but not sizzling economy

Small businesses added 83,000 jobs in May, medium-sized businesses added 113,000, and large firms hired 57,000 workers.

April’s job gains, originally reported as 177,000, were revised down to 174,000.

Underlying job growth is probably running at about 200,000 per month, Zandi said in a press conference Thursday. Since the job market is growing at a much slower pace — probably about 80,000 per month — the jobless rate will continue to fall, he said. A 4% rate is “dead ahead.”

There are still some headwinds for the labor market, including the continued retirements of the baby- boom generation. That’s going to continue to keep labor force participation flat, Zandi said.