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Hawaii’s jobless rate edges up to 3.3%

Dave Segal

Hawaii’s unemployment rate inched up one-tenth of a point in June to 3.3 percent — its highest level this year — even as employers continued to add jobs.

Total nonfarm payroll jobs last month rose by 3,600 — to 650,900 from 647,300 in May — and increased by 14,700, or 2.3 percent, over the past year, according to data released today by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The nonfarm payroll jobs figure includes people who might hold multiple jobs but doesn’t include people who are self-employed.

However, the construction sector, which had been at an all-time high for employment, saw its job count slip in June by 600 to 40,000 workers.

Last month’s 3.3 percent seasonally adjusted rate was up from 3.2 percent in May and matched the numbers reached in November and December.

In another measure of the Hawaii economy, the state’s labor force, which includes people who are employed and those who are unemployed but actively seeking work, fell to 685,350 last month from 688,000 in May.

There were 662,500 people employed in June, down from 665,650 the previous month, while the number unemployed increased to 22,850 from 22,350.

The U.S. unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in June, up from 4.7 percent in May.

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