U.S. consumer confidence rebounded in March, helped by a slight increase in optimism about the labor market, according to a private report released

on Tuesday.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 52.5 in March from an upwardly revised 46.4 in February.

The median of forecasts from analysts polled by Reuters was for a March reading of 50.0. Forecasts ranged from 45.7 to 59.0.

The expectations index rose to 70.2, from a revised 62.9.

The present situation index rose to 26.0, the most since May 2009, up from a revised 21.7 in February.

Consumers' labor market assessment improved. The jobs hard to get index declined to 45.8 from 47.3 percent, while the jobs plentiful index increased to 4.4 percent from 4.0 percent.

(Reporting by John Parry and Wanfeng Zhou; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)