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More jobs in Fort Lauderdale were added during March as the area's unemployment rate decreased.

During March, the Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach area's unemployment rate decreased to 10.6 percent after remaining at 10.9 percent for two consecutive months. Despite the decrease, the area's rate was still higher than the national average of the time at 9.7 percent.

The Fort Lauderdale area had a total non-farm employment of 702,000 workers during March, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 701,600 workers during February, but a 3.4 percent decrease from last year.

Four industries managed to see a monthly increase in employment during March, including: professional and business services by 400 jobs; education and health services by 1,000 jobs; leisure and hospitality by 300 jobs; and other services by 200 jobs.

Employment in the manufacturing industry remained even over the month with 24,400 jobs.

The education and health services industry was the only one that saw a yearly increase in employment, growing by 3 percent between March 2009 and March 2010, to its current level of 96,200 jobs.

The construction industry took the biggest hit when compared to last year. The industry employed 31,800 workers during March, down from 31,900 workers during February and a 20.9 percent decrease from last year.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment include:

• Information by 11.2 percent
• Manufacturing by 9.3 percent
• Financial activities by 7.3 percent
• Trade, transportation and utilities by 3.1 percent
• Leisure and hospitality by 2.9 percent
• Government by 1.5 percent
• Professional and business services by 1.4 percent
• Other services by .3 percent

Labels: Jobs in Fort Lauderdale