Hawaii’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.4 percent in October for the fourth straight month, according to a government report released today.

The Hawaii rate remained well below the national rate of 9.6 percent, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reported.

Hawaii’s September unemployment rate was revised up to 6.4 percent from the 6.3 percent rate originally reported last month.

Of the 632,750 workers in Hawaii’s labor force of in October, 592,100 were employed and 40,650 were unemployed, the DLIR reported. There were 3,350 fewer unemployed than in October 2009 when the jobless rate was 6.9 percent.

“Hawaii’s employment situation continues to show steady improvement, with unemployment rates holding steady and private sector jobs beginning to increase,” said state Labor Director Pearl Imada Iboshi.

The labor force data are gathered through a telephone survey of Hawaii households. A separate survey of Hawaii businesses showed that the number of non-farm payroll jobs rose by 3,800 to 591,700 in October from the same month a year earlier. The biggest increases were in the construction, professional services and financial sectors.