Hawaii unemployment rate holds at 2.7%

Hawaii’s unemployment rate didn’t change in April, but more people were working and fewer were without jobs, according to state data released Thursday.

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reported that 1,450 more people were employed last month than in March. At the same time, the ranks of the unemployed decreased by 300.

Though both moves were positive, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.7 percent.

Such a rate represents an extremely tight labor market where more or less everyone who wants to work and is desirable to employers can land a job, though the measure is a broad one that generalizes the market.

April’s rate of 2.7 percent, which DLIR adjusts for seasonal differences, represented a decade low. The last time unemployment was lower was in April 2007 at 2.6 percent.

Hawaii’s unemployment rate has generally been declining since August 2010 from about 7 percent as part of a growing local economy. Nationally the unemployment rate in April was 4.4 percent, down from 4.5 percent in March.

“Hawaii’s economy is performing well with the job count at or over 650,000 since August,” DLIR Director Linda Chu Takayama noted in a statement accompanying the report.

Last month the number of people working statewide was 679,150. That was up from 677,700 in March.

The number of unemployed people last month was 18,850. That was down from 19,150 in March.

The lift in employment last month was led by jobs in construction, health care and retail. On the other hand, employment in Hawaii’s hospitality industry was flat.

There were 800 more construction workers in April — 37,700 compared with 36,900 in March. The health care industry added 700 workers to employ 67,900 last month compared with 67,200 in March. And the retail workforce gained 600 workers and rose to 71,900 from 71,300.

Though hospitality employment was flat, the industry, which is setting records with tourist arrivals, had 3,700 more workers than a year earlier, according to DLIR data.

DLIR breaks down unemployment rates by island, but these data are not seasonally adjusted. Without adjustment the statewide unemployment rate was 2.6 percent in April, unchanged from March.

The breakdown by island shows the improvement in the workforce was almost exclusively limited to Oahu, where most of the state’s population resides.

The unemployment rate on Oahu was 2.4 percent in April and unchanged from March.

Maui was next lowest at 2.9 percent, up from 2.8 percent in March.

On Kauai the unemployment rate was 3 percent, up from 2.8 percent in March.

Lanai and Hawaii island had rates of 3.2 percent. For Lanai it represented a decline from 3.7 percent in March, but for Hawaii island it was an increase from 3.1 percent.

Molokai had the highest unemployment in the state in April at 5.6 percent, which was up from 5.4 percent in March.