Hawaii employers added 2,400 jobs in July, and the state’s unemployment rate improved to 2.7 percent — this despite a recent forecast from the state that the economy will grow at a slower pace than previously projected for the rest of the year and through 2020.

The state’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate inched down one-tenth of a percentage point after the June number was revised upward to 2.8 percent from 2.7 percent due to additional employment information received for that month, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Without the upward revision, last month’s jobless rate would have represented the fifth straight month it had been at 2.7 percent.

“The numbers indicate the economy is very stable because the unemployment rate is still very low and we’re still increasing jobs,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. “But at the same time, we notice that the growth by industries is not even. I’m a little surprised this month that hospitality had a small decrease of 300 jobs, because tourism is still doing well. The July number is not out yet, butI would imagine visitor arrivals would be still increasing.”

Hawaii’s nonagricultural payroll job count, which includes multiple jobs held by one person but does not include self-employed jobs, increased to 656,700 from 654,300 in June. The education and health services sector showed the largest increase in jobs at 2,300 primarily due to the takeover July 1 of state-run community hospitals in Maui County — Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula Hospital &Clinic and Lanai Community Hospital — by Kaiser Permanente Hawaii. The transition resulted in government employment decreasing by a nearly identical count of 2,200 jobs. The trade, transportation and utilities category showed the next-largest job increase at 1,800.

The construction industry and the leisure and hospitality sectors had the largest job losses at 300 each.

DBEDT lowered its growth forecast for the state Aug. 11 after analyzing economic numbers in several areas.

“The unemployment rate has been steady during the last several months, but it may increase a little bit the rest of the year,” Tian said. “Our forecast for the year is 2.9 percent because other indicators like the GDP (gross domestic product) and personal income are indicating the economy is growing slower. Usually the labor market lags the economy about a year.”

Hawaii’s labor market is calculated two ways.

The unemployment rate is derived largely from a monthly telephone survey of households that counts the number of people in the labor force. A separate survey of businesses determines the number of nonagricultural payroll jobs. So if one person holds three jobs, all three jobs are included.

Hawaii’s labor force, which includes people who are employed, those who are unemployed but actively seeking work, and those who are self-employed, fell last month to 693,100 from 695,550 in June. There were 674,450 employed in July, down from 676,400 the previous month.

The number of unemployed, meanwhile, declined to 18,650 from 19,150.

Hawaii’s jobless rate continues to be lower than the nation’s as a whole. Earlier this month the national rate came in at 4.3 percent for July, down from 4.4 percent the previous month.

Across the state, the unemployment rate fell in July in all of the four major counties from the year-­earlier month. State and national labor-force data are adjusted for seasonal factors, but the county jobs data are not seasonally adjusted and thus do not take into account variations such as the winter holiday and summer vacation seasons.

Honolulu County’s rate declined to 2.3 percent from 2.8 percent, Hawaii County’s rate fell to 3.3 percent from 4.2 percent, Kauai County’s rate dropped to 2.4 percent from 3.2 percent and Maui County’s rate declined to 2.7 percent from 3.3 percent. Within Maui County, Maui’s jobless rate fell to 2.4 percent from 3.1 percent, and Lanai’s rate fell to 6.0 percent from 6.4 percent. Molokai’s rate rose to 9.0 percent from 8.4 percent.