The Commerce Department released a report on Monday showing an unexpected increase in U.S construction spending in the month of March.

The report said construction spending rose by 0.3 percent to an annual rate of $1.835 trillion in March after falling by 0.3 percent to a revised rate of $1.830 trillion in February.

Economists had expected construction spending to edge down by 0.1 percent, matching the dip originally reported for the previous month.

The unexpected increase in construction spending came as spending on private construction rose by 0.3 percent to an annual rate of $1.435 trillion.

Spending on non-residential construction jumped by 1.0 percent to a rate of $607.4 million, more than offsetting a 0.2 percent drop in spending on residential construction to a rate of $827.7 billion.

The report said spending on public construction also crept up by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of $399.6 billion in March.

Spending on educational construction climbed by 0.7 percent to a rate of $86.9 billion, while spending on highway construction slipped by 0.1 percent to a rate of $121.7 billion.

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