Hawaii’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.4 percent in March for the second month in row, highlighting the slow recovery of the job market in the state since the 2008-2009 recession.

The March rate marks a modest improvement over 2011 and 2010 when unemployment averaged 6.7 percent and 6.9 percent respectively. Most economists expect further improvement in the state’s job market will be gradual as the economy slowly strengthens.

The University of Hawaii Research Organization is forecasting the rate will decline to 6.2 percent this year, helped by a 1.8 percent gain in the number of payroll jobs.

There were 42,250 people looking for work in Hawaii in March, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. That was unchanged from February and down from 43,450 in March 2011.

While job growth has been slow in recent years, the deterioration of the job market after the recession was rapid. The rate jumped from 2.7 percent in 2007 to 4.1 percent in 2008 and

6.9 percent in 2009. The number of people filing for unemployment soared from fewer than 1,000 a week to more than 3,000 a week during that period.

However, unemployment claims have been trending lower recently. There were 1,981 claims filed last week, 8.2 percent fewer than the same week a year ago.

Nationally the unemployment rate fell to 8.2 percent in March from 8.3 percent in February.

The state and national jobs data are adjusted for seasonal variations, such as temporary hiring during the holiday shopping season.

County jobless rates are not seasonally adjusted. The rate for Honolulu rose to

5.7 percent in March from 5.5 percent in February. The rate rose to 7.1 percent from 6.9 percent in Maui County, to 8.1 percent from 8 percent in Kauai County and to 9.2 percent from 9.1 percent in Hawaii County.

The unemployment rate is based largely on a telephone survey of households. A separate survey of businesses showed that the number of nonagricultural jobs rose to 597,000 in March, a 1,100 net increase from February.

The hospitality industry led the way with the addition of 1,100 jobs between February and March.

The trade, transportation and utilities sector added 800 positions.

The number of jobs in government and construction each declined by 300, according to the labor department.