Hawaii’s job market continued to stumble along in March with the unemployment rate remaining stuck at 6.3 percent for the fourth month in a row, according to a report released yesterday.

The rate, adjusted for seasonal variations, has fallen only modestly since peaking at 7 percent in the summer of 2009 as the recession was winding down.

Economists expect improvements in the labor market to be slow, citing the reluctance on the part of many employers to hire aggressively until they have worked through debt they built up during the economic slowdown. The University of Hawaii Research Organization is forecasting the unemployment rate to average 6 percent this year and 5.3 percent in 2012. The rate was as low as 2.3 percent before the recession struck in late 2007.

Some areas of Hawaii’s job market are doing better than others, said Liesl Bernard, Hono­lulu branch manager for Robert Half International, a staffing firm that specializes in professional services.

Hiring is picking up for skilled positions in technology, accounting and finance, according to a recent survey conducted by Half. Bernard said 60 percent of companies surveyed said they were having a difficult time finding skilled staff.

"We’re seeing increased hiring for both temporary positions and full-time jobs," she said. "If you look at skilled positions, the unemployment rate is closer to 2 to 3 percent. We’re even seeing people who are making moves from one company to another for better pay or better benefits."

The Robert Half survey also found that 4 percent of local executives in Hawaii plan to hire in the second quarter, up from 1 percent in the first quarter. In addition, 90 percent of those surveyed said they expected their companies to grow in the second quarter.

Honolulu County continued to have the strongest market, with an unemployment rate of 5.6 percent in March, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reported.

The rate was 8.8 percent in Maui County, 9 percent in Kauai County and 10 percent in Hawaii County. The county data are not adjusted for seasonal variations.

The unemployment rate is derived from a survey of Hawaii households.

A separate state survey of businesses showed that the number of nonagricultural payroll jobs fell by 2,300, to 593,500, from February to March. The biggest decline was in the government sector, which lost 1,100 jobs in March. Financial services lost 700 jobs, while jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector fell by 300. The biggest gain was in the trade, transportation and utilities category, which added 900 jobs, according to the Labor Department.