Job growth in Central Oregon remained stagnant in March for a second consecutive month, according to the Oregon Employment Department.

All three counties showed a small increase in seasonally adjusted unemployment rates. Deschutes County went from 8.5 percent in February to 8.6 percent in March. “The pace of job growth in Deschutes County was slower than the statewide growth for the first time in well over a year,” wrote Regional Economist Damon Runberg in a monthly report released Monday.

The change in Central Oregon unemployment rates — one-tenth of 1 percent — does not represent a statistically significant change, Runberg said. The seasonally adjusted loss of 200 or 300 jobs, for example, constitutes only a small fraction of more than 63,000 people employed in Deschutes County.

The same pattern of stagnant employment in winter and spring 2013 preceded gains in the summer and fall and may presage a similar pattern this year, Runberg said.

Jobless rates increased in March to 10.9 percent in Crook County and 9.7 percent in Jefferson County. All three counties are in better shape than a year ago, when rates were measured at 10 percent in Deschutes, 11.2 percent in Jefferson and 12.8 percent in Crook.

Deschutes County gained 230 jobs in March, when economists expected 250, according to the Employment Department. Leisure and hospitality gained 140, the most in any sector for the month. Local government education lost 50, the most jobs lost in any sector.

The Oregon unemployment rate stood at 6.9 percent, the national rate at 6.9 percent.