Hawaii’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady at 4.4 percent in May to match the previous month’s rate and remain at its lowest level in nearly six years.

The low jobless rate, as well as the influx of construction projects in Kakaako, continues to provide more evidence that the state’s job market recovery remains intact. There were 31,200 construction workers employed in May, an increase of 500 over April, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

"The increase in construction workers reflects what’s going on in the construction sector, which is a positive sign because it remained dormant so long," said Leroy Laney, a professor of economics and finance at Hawaii Pacific University. "It can be expected to continue with all the construction going on in Kakaako and various places."

Hawaii continues to perform much better at putting people to work than the rest of the country, where the unemployment rate for May was 6.3 percent. The state’s labor force, which includes those who are employed and others who are unemployed but actively seeking work, rose to a record 661,900 last month. May was the 17th consecutive month that the jobless rate in Hawaii was below 5 percent.

Before dipping to 4.4 percent in April, the last time the state’s unemployment rate was that low was in August 2008 when it also was at 4.4 percent. Its recent peak was 7.1 percent in both July and August 2009 during the most recent recession.

"The unemployment rate remains one of the lower unemployment rates in the country," Laney said. "It’s not a negative sign that it remains at 4.4 percent. At least it’s not rising."

The state and national labor force data 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 DLIR report showed that the unemployment rate rose across all counties in May from April. It increased to 4.1 percent from 3.8 percent in Honolulu County, to 5.8 percent from 5.6 percent in Hawaii County, to 5 percent from 4.9 percent in Kauai County and to 4.7 percent from 4.6 percent in Maui County.

Separately in Maui County, the jobless rate on Maui rose to 4.6 percent from 4.5 percent and on Lanai increased to 3.4 percent from 2.1 percent. It fell, however, on Molokai to 8.6 percent from 8.8 percent.

The unemployment rate is derived largely from a monthly telephone survey of households. A separate survey of businesses showed that the number of payroll jobs in Hawaii rose by 1,400 in May from April. Over the past year the number of payroll jobs has increased by 7,200.

The business category with the largest job increase on a year-over-year basis was professional and business services, which added 2,300 positions due to job growth in professional employment organizations and temporary help services. Leisure and hospitality added 1,900 positions.

Jobs in state government grew by 1,700 while federal government positions fell by 1,000.