The newest unemployment report shows employers added more than 244,000 jobs last month, the third straight month of solid gains. However, the unemployment rate continued to climb.

The job growth was widespread in retail, education, and even construction. It was the biggest hiring spree in five years.

However, it was still not enough to keep the unemployment rate from rising. Federal, state and local governments cut 24,000 jobs, which caused the job loss rate to rise from 8.8 to 9 percent.

Economists say that the unemployment rate often climbs as the job market is improving, because workers who had given up on searching for a job re-enter the labor force. Those workers were not previously counted among the unemployed, so it causes the rate to rise.

While most Americans watch the unemployment rate, economists prefer to focus from the job figures of the payroll survey. Last month, the payroll survey showed the best month of private-sector hiring since February 2006. Businesses added 268,000 positions.