Hawaii’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose in October for the fourth straight month to 6.5 percent to match its highest level in a year.

The rise came despite nonagricultural jobs increasing by 1,100 to 596,900 from 595,800 in September, according to a report Friday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The number of nonfarm jobs is now at its highest point since March 2009.

Hawaii still has a lower jobless rate than the U.S., which registered 9 percent unemployed in October.

The last time Hawaii’s unemployment rate was at 6.5 percent was in October 2010. It has gradually creeped up from 6 percent in May and June to 6.1 percent in July, 6.2 percent in August and 6.4 percent in September.

"It’s a continuation of a trend of what we’ve been seeing for the last several months," said Leroy Laney, economic adviser to First Hawaiian Bank and professor of economics and finance at Hawaii Pacific University. "It’s not a particularly optimistic sign that jobs can go up and the unemployment rate can rise, but we’re also seeing that at the national level. Jobs have to go up by a certain amount to decrease the unemployment rate, and the fact that these things are coming from two different surveys, one can tell you one thing and one can tell you something else. It’s not unusual to have both the job count and the unemployment rate move in the same direction."

Officials at the state Labor Department have said the "divergence" between the direction in unemployment rate and the payroll job count can be due in part to an increase in the number of people working more than one job. If a newly created job is filled by someone who already has a job and wants it as a second job, there is no reduction in the number of unemployed.

The unemployment rate is based in large part on a telephone survey of households, while the payroll number is derived from a survey of businesses. While the two sets of data sometimes diverge on a month-to-month basis, they follow a similar trend over the longer term, the officials said.

Hawaii’s total labor force expanded by 1,900 to 633,900 in October from 632,000 in the previous month largely due to strong employment gains in leisure and hospitality, which added 1,400 jobs from September. Since June the travel industry has expanded by 4,100 jobs, partly due to an estimated 800 new positions at Disney’s Aulani Resort at Ko Olina.

Overall, the number of those employed increased in October by 850 to 592,600 from 591,750 in September. However, those unemployed also rose to 41,250 from 40,250.

"It’s unsettling to find the unemployment rate is increasing," Laney said. "As we’ve gone on in 2011, the recovery was always slow, but it’s slowing down even more. I don’t think we’re going back into a recession, but we’re seeing a slowdown even in that slow rate of growth."

County data, which are not seasonally adjusted, showed Hawaii County with the highest unemployment rate in the state at 9.3 percent, down from 9.6 percent in September. Kauai County’s rate fell to 8.5 percent from 8.8 percent. Honolulu County dipped to 5.6 percent from 5.7 percent, and Maui Country fell to 7.6 percent from 7.9 percent. Within Maui County, Molokai’s rate increased to 17.5 percent from 16.8 percent while Maui island declined to 7.3 percent from 7.6 percent and Lanai dropped to 4.4 percent from 5.3 percent.