The U.S. economy added a stronger-than-expected 180,000 new jobs in March, largely because of a bounceback in construction hiring, and job growth was stronger in the two prior months than previously thought.

The intently awaited March employment report, issued by the Labor Department on Friday, painted a brighter picture of the U.S. job market than anticipated and included a surprising decline in the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent from 4.5 percent in February.

It was the lowest monthly unemployment rate since last October, when it also was at 4.4 percent.

The government also revised up its estimate for jobs created in January and February by 16,000 each month to 162,000 and 113,000 respectively.