A broad measure of joblessness that includes those working part time involuntarily and discouraged workers who have stopped looking but would still like a job fell in Hawaii in 2013 for the third consecutive year, according to a report released Wednesday.
The so-called "U-6" unemployment rate in Hawaii dropped to 11.5 percent in 2013 from 12.8 percent in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The rate has fallen every year since peaking in 2010 at 16.9 percent.
Despite the decline in the U-6 rate, it was more than double Hawaii’s 4.8 percent official unemployment rate in 2013.
The number of Hawaii residents out of work according to the official measure of unemployment totaled 31,500 in 2013. There were an additional 32,800 workers who were employed part time involuntarily because of "slack work or business conditions," or because they were unable to find a full-time job, the bureau reported.
Also, 12,000 individuals were classified as "marginally attached" to the labor force. These individuals had looked for work at some point during the previous 12 months but not in the four weeks before the survey was taken.
Keith Otis, who lost his job as information technology director at a computer sales company in Honolulu when the firm folded two years ago, said he doesn’t believe Hawaii’s job market is as robust as what is portrayed in the media. Otis said he is still looking for work, mainly because of a lack of available positions for someone with his skill level.
"More companies are outsourcing their IT business these days," said Otis, 55. "In Hawaii, especially, there are very few high-level IT positions.
"I get emails and phone calls from the mainland left and right, but I want to stay here," he said.
"I haven’t given up. I’m still looking."
The BLS uses a monthly telephone survey of households to gather data from which it calculates the various unemployment rates.
Hawaii’s U-6 rate in 2013 was tied for 11th lowest among all 50 states, the bureau reported. The U-6 rates ranged from a low of 5.6 percent in North Dakota to a high of 18.1 in Nevada. The national average was 13.8 percent.
HIDDEN UNEMPLOYMENT The “U-6” unemployment rate, which economists sometimes call “hidden unemployment,” includes individuals who are working part-time involuntarily and those who have become so discouraged that they’ve quit looking for work.
| |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
| HAWAII |
| U-6 rate |
15.1% |
12.8% |
11.5% |
| Official rate |
7.3% |
6.0% |
4.8% |
| U.S. |
| U-6 rate |
15.9% |
14.7% |
13.8% |
| Official rate |
8.9% |
8.1% |
7.4% |
|
