Rhode Island last month lost 3,100 payroll jobs, plunging the state’s employment level to its lowest in nearly five years, a government report released today shows.

The state unemployment rate climbed two-tenths of a percentage point to 6.1 percent, a full percentage point higher than the national average rate of 5.1 percent, according to the state Department of Labor and Training.

Meanwhile, neighboring Massachusetts reported a 2,900-job gain, and its unemployment rate edged down to 4.4 percent.

Rhode Island’s mounting job losses — an estimated 6,000 during the first three months of this year — offers more evidence that the state is at the leading edge of a national recession. Nationally, rising food and gas prices, a slowdown in consumer spending and persistent housing and credit-market problems continue to weaken the job market.

Nationally, payroll jobs last month declined by 80,000, the third consecutive month of losses, with decreases in construction, manufacturing and employment services, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In Rhode Island, high concentrations of subprime lending during the housing boom continue to drive up home foreclosures and hobble real-estate markets and house building.

Construction employment has remained essentially flat for the last 13 months, state employment data show. Employment in financial activities, which also is tied to the credit crunch, last month fell by 400, and is down an estimated 800 for the first three months of this year. (Jobs numbers are adjusted to account for seasonal fluctuations.)

The state reported the biggest job losses last month in manufacturing (-700), retail trade (-500), and professional and business services (-500).

The decline in retail trade includes job losses in department stores as well as those selling clothing, building material, sporting goods and health and personal care products, the report said.

In several sectors, last month’s job losses follow months of shrinking payrolls. For example, retail trade employment last month was down 1,400 compared with March of last year, the state data show.

The retail job losses last year included supermarkets, which shed 150 jobs as of the third quarter of last year compared with the same period in 2006, according to the most recent available data. (The monthly job figures do not provide the detailed breakdown available in the quarterly reports.)

Health-care employment, which some have dubbed “recession proof” because of its sustained growth during the 2001 recession, last month failed to live up to its name in Rhode Island. Last month, the state’s health-care and social assistance sector reported a 200-person job loss, after a 100-job gain in February. (A 100-job change is so small that some economists consider it statistically insignificant.)

Massachusetts also reported a 400-job loss last month in education and health services, although the sector remained the state’s leading growth category overall, with 14,900 more jobs than it had a year earlier, according to the Massachusetts Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

Nationally, health-care employment last month grew by 22,800, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The professional and business-service sector, which includes temporary help agencies, declined nationally and in Rhode Island, but added jobs in Massachusetts. The sector is closely watched by economists because temporary employees are considered to be a predictor of which way the economy is headed. Jobs there tend to rise when the economy is growing, and shrink when it is contracting.

Last month, Massachusetts reported that the sector added 1,000 jobs, following a 3,100-job gain in February. By contrast, Rhode Island’s professional and business-services sector during the last three months has shed 1,600 jobs. (Nationally, the sector lost 35,000 jobs.)

Jobs in tourism-related sectors also have failed to boost payrolls in Rhode Island. Employment in two such sectors both declined last month. Arts, entertainment and recreation jobs last month fell by 200, while accommodation and food services reported a 100-job loss for both February and March, and remained unchanged during the previous three months. The state’s accommodation and food-services sector has remained essentially flat for the last year, the state data show.

Government employment in the state last month fell by 200, following another 200-job decline in February.

Rhode Island’s total payroll employment in March sank to 484,800, the lowest since July 2003, the state reported. The ranks of the unemployed in the state last month increased by 1,600 to 35,100. (The government counts people as unemployed only if they report they are available for and actively seeking work.)

larditi@projo.com