Washington’s economy gained an estimated 1,600 jobs in March, while the unemployment rate edged up to 9.5 percent from February’s revised rate of 9.4 percent, the state’s Employment Security Department announced Tuesday. March job gains marked the second time in three months the state has posted positive job numbers. That’s on the heels of 13 consecutive months of job losses stretching from the end of 2008 to the end of 2009.

Industries that added jobs in March were professional and business services, up 1,500; retail trade, up 500; leisure and hospitality, up 500; government, up 400; wholesale trade, up 300; transportation, warehousing and utilities, up 300; information, up 300; and mining and logging, up 200. Meanwhile, construction dropped an estimated 1,400 jobs in March. Other industries that shed jobs were financial activities, down 700, and education and health services, down 300.

The labor force grew by nearly 6,000 people in March. Year over year, Washington had 67,800 fewer jobs last month than in March 2009, a 2.4 percent decrease. Nationally, employment was down 1.8 percent compared to a year ago.

An estimated 347,720 people (not seasonally adjusted) in Washington were unemployed and looking for work, and more than 291,000 people received unemployment benefits from Washington in March.