Hawaii’s unemployment rate, reflecting slowing growth in the state economy, resumed its upward trend in March and climbed to a 28-month high of 2.8%.

The uptick followed two straight months at 2.7% and pushed the seasonally adjusted jobless rate to its highest level since December 2016, according to data released today by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. A year ago, the jobless rate was 2.3 %, slightly above its all-time low of 2.2%.

Nonfarm payroll jobs fell by 800 from the previous month to 658,100. The trade, transportation and utilities category incurred the largest drop with 600 fewer positions