Jobless rate sees first increase since August 2011

Hawaii’s unemployment rate rose in January for the first time in 15 months, climbing to a seasonally adjusted 5.2 percent from 5.1 percent in December, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reported Friday.

The last time the jobless rate increased was in August 2011 when it rose to 6.7 percent from 6.6 percent in July. Despite the uptick, the December rate was well below where it was a year earlier, when it was 6.3 percent. Hawaii’s rate also compared favorably with the national unemployment rate of 7.9 percent in January. Hawaii’s December jobless rate was revised down from a previously reported 5.2 percent rate.

The increase in the January unemployment rate was the result of some people losing their jobs and others leaving the workforce entirely, according to the report. There were 33,850 unemployed workers in January, 250 more than in December. The number of employed, meanwhile, fell by 950 to 618,350. The result was a decline in the overall labor force, which is made up of both employed workers and those who are unemployed but looking for work.

If unemployment was up in January, it wasn’t evident in the business services sector, said Liesl Bernard, who manages the Hono­lulu office for the staffing firm Robert Half International.

"It definitely doesn’t feel like the case based on how extremely busy we are," Bernard said. "We’re seeing a need for skill sets in accounting, finance and information technology."

Indeed, the Labor Department reported that businesses added 600 white-collar jobs in January compared with December. Hiring in the sector was up by 1,900 from January 2011.

There was a net loss of 400 nonagricultural payroll jobs across all sectors in January from December, the Labor Department reported. The payroll job count and unemployment rate are presented in the same report but are calculated using different methods.

On a year-over-year basis, payroll jobs were up 12,200 in January. The biggest increase was in the leisure-and-hospitality sector, which gained 2,700 positions. Construction added 2,300 jobs, and the category of trade, transportation and utilities added 2,200 positions.

Unemployment rates are significantly lower in many business-related job categories in Hono­lulu than in the broader statewide job market, Bernard said. The result is that workers with those skills are able to negotiate better salaries and benefits packages than would be otherwise possible, Bernard said. "Employers are doing what they can to provide them with compensation packages to keep them from leaving," she said.

That’s good news for workers in the business and professional services sector, who earn about 10 percent less than their counterparts nationally, according to Bernard.

The Hawaii and national unemployment rates are adjusted for seasonal variations, such as the hiring and dismissal of temporary workers for the holiday shopping season.

County data are not seasonally adjusted. The unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent from 4.2 percent for Hono­lulu County, to 7.6 percent from 6.9 percent for Hawaii County, to 6.5 percent from 6.1 percent for Kauai County and to 5.7 percent from 5.2 percent for Maui County.