U.S. companies added 308,000 new jobs in March, the fastest rate in four years.Economists had forecast a gain of 120,000 jobs.

The highly anticipated report released today by the U.S. Labor Department showed widespread hiring in industries across the economy.

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

The civilian unemployment rate, however, ticked up 0.1 percentage point from 5.6% in February to 5.7%. That occurred because more job seekers entered the job market last month, but were unsuccessful.

The long-suffering U.S. manufacturing sector ended 44 months of job losses, but factories didn’t add any new positions, the Labor Department said. Only the information services sector shed jobs last month as about 1,000 positions were lost.

The upbeat jobs report will most likely give a boost for U.S. President George in his campaign for re-election.

“The Bush folks must be breathing a sigh of relief,” Sherry Cooper, chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said in a commentary.