Construction's unemployment rate posted its second-consecutive monthly decline, as the industry added 14,000 jobs in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported.

BLS's latest monthly employment report, released on May 5, showed that construction's April jobless rate improved to 21.8%, from March's 24.9%. But it remained higher than the April 2009 level of 18.7%.

Construction's unemployment rate hit a 10-year peak in February, reaching 27.1%.

The industry's rates are not adjusted for seasonal variations, and thus tend to improve as the volume of work rises in the spring and summer and hit bottom in the winter lull.

Over all, the economy gained 290,000 jobs in April, but the national jobless rate rose to 9.9%, from 9.7% in March, as the number of job-seekers, and thus the total labor force, increased.