The state's largest job fair drew a record number of recruiters yesterday, a sign that there still are companies looking to hire new employees despite a slumping economy.

The Job Quest Job Fair attracted 240 employers to the Neal Blaisdell Center, up from the 200 a year earlier and 185 that signed up for the last fair in January. The fairs are held three times a year and the May event typically is the largest because it targets recent graduates and people looking for summer jobs.

Beth Busch, president of Success Advertising, which puts on the job fair, said the number of employers shows there still are many good jobs available.

"Anybody who says people aren't hiring should have come and seen this," Busch said.

Busch said nearly 5,000 job seekers, up 1,000 from last year, went to yesterday's fair. She said ticket discounts were available to former Aloha Airlines employees, but she did not know how many went to the fair.

Unlike past job fairs, yesterday's event attracted no commercial airlines.

Busch said she believes most have already picked up Aloha workers and have no more positions available.

She added that many of the employer representatives yesterday seemed eager to attract new people.

"The recruiters were aggressive," Busch said. "If you're in a high unemployment market you'll have fewer employers and they'll kind of just sit at their table and chat with people. If it's low unemployment and they're really looking for workers they're aggressive and this was very aggressive. They were battling over their candidates."

The state's unemployment rate is still relatively low, although it climbed slightly in April to 3.3 percent, compared with 3.1 percent in March.