The U.S. unemployment rate held at 3.8 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in health care and in professional and technical services. Employment in other major industries, including mining, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, and government, showed little change over the month. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) remained essentially unchanged at 1.3 million, accounting for 21.1 percent of the unemployed.