Hawai'i's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October remained unchanged from September at 4.5 percent, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reported Thursday.

Nationally, the unemployment rate rose from 6.1 percent in September to 6.5 percent in October.

Hawai'i's unemployment rate has been edging higher since October 2007 when it stood at 2.8 percent.

The sharpest increases have come since the spring when Aloha Airlines failed, Molokai Ranch closed, and Weyerhaeuser Co. shut down the state's only cardboard plant.

In October, island construction shed 500 jobs, mainly in residential building, along with roofing and building finishing contractors.

Leisure and hospitality also lost 500 jobs in October, while trade, transportation and utilities, as well as educational and health services lost 300 jobs apiece.

In contrast, the government sector added 1,000 jobs, primarily because of public schools continuing their unified calendar session, the department said.

The state said it aims to boost jobs with its infrastructure projects.

"We are working hard to accelerate $1 billion worth of capital improvement projects which will positively impact the construction industry and the economy as a whole," department Director Darwin L.D. Ching said.

O'ahu's seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate in October was 3.8 percent, up from 2.4 percent recorded in October 2007. On the Big Island, the rate rose from 3.3 percent to 6.3 percent; on Kaua'i, it climbed from 2.5 percent to 5.4 percent; and Maui County saw its rate increase from 3.2 percent to 5.3 percent.

Hawai'i's October figures show there were 635,100 employed and 30,250 unemployed, for a seasonally adjusted island labor force of 665,350.

In another measure of employment, total seasonally adjusted nonagricultural jobs in Hawai'i declined by 1,000 to 621,200 in October. Other services remained unchanged, while the private sector saw job losses in almost every industry.