Rhode Island last month shed another 700 jobs, the fourth consecutive monthly decline, and the state unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.1 percent, a government jobs report released today shows.

So far this year, Rhode Island—the only New England state economists say is in recession—has lost 6,300 jobs, and its payroll employment has fallen to its lowest level since June 2003, according to the state Department of Labor and Training.

Massachusetts last month lost 2,400 jobs, but the unemployment rate declined three-tenths of a percentage point, to 4.1 percent, the lowest rate since September 2001. So far this year, payroll jobs in Massachusetts are up by 2,600.

Nationally, payroll jobs last month declined by 20,000, and the unemployment rate was 5 percent. The April job losses followed much steeper declines during the previous three months, when job losses totaled 240,000, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Rhode Island’s job losses last month were less than a third of the revised estimate of 2,700 payroll jobs lost in March, but offered no sign of a turnaround at the start of the summer hiring season.

Tourism-related employment, which typically provides much of the summer jobs, has been relatively flat this year. Arts, entertainment and recreation employment last month was flat, and down 400 from April of last year, according to the report. Accommodation and food services businesses last month added 100 jobs, but were down 100 jobs from a year earlier. (A gain or loss of 100 jobs is so small that economists generally consider it statistically insignificant.)

Nearly 200 people turned out for a job fair last Monday at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Newport campus. Students looking for summer jobs were competing against adults in search of part-time work to supplement their incomes, as well as others looking for full-time jobs or exploring career changes, according to Heather Singleton, vice president of operation for the Rhode Island Hospitality & Tourism Association.

“I’m pretty sure I can get a job,” said 18-year-old Marlo Wyant, who recently returned home to Newport after completing her freshman year at the University of Miami, where she is studying civil and environmental engineering. Of course, she added, the pay will probably be “not much more than minimum wage.”

So far, Wyant said, she has filled out several applications and had one interview for a job as hotel desk clerk, which pays $8 an hour. That’s less than she made last summer, when she worked the cash register at a souvenir shop in downtown Newport for $9 an hour. But this summer she is taking classes during the day, she said, so she needs an evening job.

Steven Harkness, an 18-year-old from Portsmouth who will be attending Rhode Island College in the fall, said he hopes to find a job working outside, “where I can use my hands” and make some money before he plunges into his study of English literature and film. He thought a job as a hotel cook “sounded pretty nice,” but he had no idea what it might pay. “I didn’t really ask,” he said.

Last month, the number of employed Rhode Island residents rose by 600— the first increase since September of last year— but remained 9,100 fewer than April of last year, the state reported. The ranks of the unemployed last month dipped to 34,800 — down 300 from March, but up 6,300 from April of last year.

(Jobs numbers have been adjusted to smooth out seasonal fluctuations.)

The size of the labor force during the last 12 months has shrunk by 2,800, the state reported.

Professional and business services employment, which last month rose by 100, is down 1,400 so far this year. Retail trade employment last month was flat and financial services last month added 100 jobs, though both are down by 800 so far this year.

The sector known as “other services” last month recorded a 400-job loss, and so far this year is now down 700. The job losses were primarily due to staff reductions in personal services and civic organizations, state labor officials said.

Job declines were partly offset by a gain of 300 jobs in the transportation and utilities, along with gains of 100 jobs each in information, professional and business services and accommodation and food services.

Since April of last year, educational services employment has reported the largest employment growth, adding 600 jobs, the report said. Health care and social assistance reported a 500-job increase, and information jobs were up 400 jobs from a year earlier.

larditi@projo.com