By Leigh Strope
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The nation's employers added 308,000 new jobs in March, hiring at the fastest pace in four years and providing long-awaited evidence the weak jobs market may be gaining steam.

At the same time, the civilian unemployment rate inched up to 5.7 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.

In a separate survey of companies, the figures showed widespread hiring in industries across the economy at a time when President Bush's re-election campaign, counting heavily on a pickup in the jobs market, jumped into high gear.

For the first time in 44 months, the nation's factories did not shed jobs. But they weren't hiring either. March's figures show zero gains and losses for manufacturers hammered by the economic downturn that began three years ago. The only sector losing jobs last month was information services, where companies cut about 1,000 jobs.

Figures for individual states were not available Friday.

Revisions to payrolls showed a stronger jobs market than was previously thought. Companies added 205,000 jobs in January and February, instead of the 118,000 reported last month.

"I'm not saying the labor markets are back where they need to be, but this latest job advance together with the positive revisions are making this look like a normal recovery," said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

The jobless rate, compiled in a separate survey of households, inched up by 0.1 percentage point from 5.6 percent in February. That's because more job seekers renewed their searches last month, but were unsuccessful.

The health of the nation's economy, especially the job climate, is a major issue in this year's presidential race. The economy has lost almost 2 million jobs since Bush took office in January 2001.

Friday's report "is more evidence the economy has turned the corner and the nation's job market is getting stronger every month," said Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

But for out-of-work Americans, the economic rebound has been frustratingly slow. In March, there were 8.35 million people unemployed, compared with 8.17 million the previous month. The average duration of unemployment has been more than 20 weeks, a 20-year high.