The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Friday that payrolls in the US rose by 216,000 workers in March as the unemployment rate declined to 8.8 percent-down 0.1 percent from February and the lowest level in two years.
The unemployment rate stood at 8.9 percent in February with 194,000 jobs gained over the month.
Despite an overall decline in the US' unemployment rate, the construction sector lost 1,000 jobs in March to a seasonally adjusted total of 5,514,000, the same as six months ago and 2.2 million, or 29 percent, less than the high point in April 2006 according to the Associated General Contractions of America (AGC). The unemployment rate in the construction sector was 20 percent in March, the highest of any industry and more than double the overall rate.