Construction's unemployment rate fell in February, to 17.1% from January’s 17.8%, and also was much better than February 2011’s 21.8% level, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported, but BLS also said the industry lost 13,000 jobs last month.

The bureau's latest monthly report, released on March 9, indicated that construction’s jobless rate has showed year-over-year improvement for 17 consecutive months.