Unemployment Rate Drops to Three-Year Low 8.2%; Trucking Jobs Decline

The U.S. unemployment declined to 8.2% in March — the lowest in three years — but trucking jobs fell by 1,900, the Labor Department said Friday.

The transportation and warehousing sector, of which trucking is a part, added 2,800 jobs.

The unemployment rate, which fell from 8.3% in February, marked the lowest level since January 2009.

The economy added 120,000 jobs, the fewest in five months, following a revised 240,000 gain in February that was larger than previously reported.

Economists had projected that the unemployment rate would hold at 8.3%, while the jobs gain was short of the 205,000 forecast, Bloomberg said.

The payroll and unemployment figures are obtained by separate surveys, with payrolls from a survey of employers and the unemployment rate from a survey of households.