WASHINGTON — U.S. employment surged for a second straight month during April, adding another 288,000 to payrolls, as jobs were created in nearly every sector at a pace that handily outstripped expectations, a Labor Department (search) report on Friday said.

Adding to evidence a revitalized labor market may take some sizzle from the jobs issue ahead of November presidential elections, the government revised up its estimates for job creation in both February and March.

Labor said 83,000 jobs were added in February and 337,000 in March instead of 46,000 and 308,000 respectively it had previously reported.

The back-to-back monthly gains in March and April were the strongest in four years, the department said.

In addition to the surprisingly robust job growth, the unemployment rate (search) dipped to 5.6 percent. Wall Street economists had forecast 173,000 new jobs would be created in April and the unemployment rate would be unchanged at 5.7 percent.

"Since August 2003, payroll employment has risen by 1.1 million," said Kathleen Utgoff, Bureau of Labor Statistics (search) commissioner. "In April, job growth was widespread for the second consecutive month."

There were 21,000 new jobs in manufacturing on top of 9,000 in March, a third straight month that this category of employment increased after a long period of decline.