Hawaii unemployment rate falls to near 6-year low of 4.4%

Hawaii’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate slipped to 4.4 percent in April from 4.5 percent in March, providing more evidence that the state’s job market recovery is firmly on track.

The jobless rate fell to its lowest in nearly six years in April after peaking at 7.1 percent during the last recession. April marked the 16th consecutive month that the rate was below 5 percent. Hawaii’s unemployment rate also compared favorably with the national rate, which declined to 6.3 percent in April, down from 6.7 percent in March.

The report, released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, is the latest indication of the continuing improvement in Hawaii’s labor market.

Employers looking to boost hiring turned out in large numbers Wednesday at the state’s largest job fair. Cynthia Fite was one of the 3,300 job seekers at the WorkForce job fair at the Neal Blaisdell Center. The Kaneohe resident, who has experience managing commercial projects for solar installation companies and construction firms, said she was encouraged by the positive response she received from employers during her recent job search.

The state Labor Department also reported Thursday that the state’s labor force, which includes those who are employed and others who are unemployed but actively seeking work, rose to a record 660,400 in April.

A separate report released Thursday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism showed that the number of Hawaii residents filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell 8 percent last week from the same period a year earlier. It was the sixth straight week in which unemployment insurance claims declined on a year-over-year basis.

The state and national labor force data are adjusted for seasonal factors, such as retailers hiring temporary sales staff for the holiday shopping season. County jobs data are not seasonally adjusted.

The report showed that the unemployment rate fell across all counties in April from March. It fell to 3.8 percent from 3.9 percent in Honolulu County, to 5.7 percent from 5.8 percent in Hawaii County, to 5 percent from 5.3 percent in Kauai County and to 4.6 percent from 4.9 percent in Maui County.

The unemployment rate is derived largely from a monthly telephone survey of households. A separate survey of businesses showed that the number of payroll jobs in Hawaii rose by 3,300 in April from March. Over the past year the number of payroll jobs has increased by 6,000.

The business category with the largest job increase on a year-over-year basis was leisure and hospitality, which added 3,100 positions. Jobs in state government grew by 1,800, while the number of education jobs rose by 300. The federal government lost 800 jobs, while the number of jobs in the construction industry fell by 200.