The health of Hawaii’s job market strengthened in November, according to a state report released Wednesday that revealed a continued influx of workers into the labor force and an increase in hiring by employers.

November’s growth in the labor force, which included both people who got jobs and others who were unemployed but looking for work, resulted in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remaining unchanged at 4.4 percent in November from October, according the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Hawaii’s labor force has grown by 8,800 workers over the past three months after contracting during eight months before that. Economists attributed the shrinking labor force earlier in the year to discouraged workers leaving the job market. Hawaii’s labor force now stands at 651,400 workers, the most since January.

Hawaii’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate has been declining slowly since peaking at 7.1 percent in the summer of 2009 during the past recession. The rate has been under 5 percent for most of this year.

The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism is forecasting the unemployment rate to fall to an average of 4.2 percent in 2014.

Nationally, the unemployment rate fell to 7 percent in November from 7.3 percent in October.

The state and national labor force numbers and unemployment rate are adjusted for seasonal factors, such as retailers hiring temporary sales staff for the holiday shopping season. County jobs data are not seasonally adjusted.

The report showed that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent in Honolulu County, and unchanged at 5.5 percent in Maui County. The rate fell to 6.2 percent from 6.3 percent in Hawaii County and to 4.9 percent from 5 percent in Maui County.

The unemployment rate is derived largely from a monthly telephone survey of households.

A separate survey of businesses showed that the number of nonagricultural payroll jobs in Hawaii rose by 1,100 in November from October, and by 5,200 from November 2012. The total number of payroll jobs stood at 617,300 in November, the most since 620,100 in August 2008, according to data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The biggest gain was in leisure and hospitality jobs, which increased by 5,100 from a year ago. The construction industry gained 1,300 jobs, while losses totaled 3,300 in state government and 1,100 in federal government when compared with a year earlier.