Jobless rate falls to lowest in 6 years

Hawaii’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, which had been stalled at the same level for the last four months, dipped to a six-year low of 4.3 percent in August, according to data released Friday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The last time the state’s jobless rate dropped lower was during the early stages of the recession in July 2008 when it was 4.1 percent. The 18-month recession lasted from the beginning of 2008 through June 2009. A year ago Hawaii’s unemployment rate was 4.8 percent.

Hawaii’s recent peak for unemployment was 7.1 percent in both July and August 2009 following the recession. The all-time low was 2.3 percent in October, November and December 2006.

Hawaii employers added 1,215 jobs in August from the previous month. There were 634,914 people employed last month compared with 632,914 in July.

The construction industry, which state economists are counting on to offset decelerating tourism numbers, showed 500 more workers in August than the previous month. There is an influx of new developments coming online statewide, with many of those congregated in the Kaka­ako area.

Hawaii’s labor force, which includes those who are employed and others who are unemployed but actively seeking work, rose to a record 662,717 last month. That’s up from 662,030 in July and 648,468 a year ago.

"Those are all good things," said Leroy Laney, a professor of economics and finance at Hawaii Pacific University. "It shows a slowly improving economy. The labor market here is better than in a lot of other places."

Laney said that even though a drop of one-tenth of a percentage point is minimal in the unemployment rate, it shows that the state economy is heading in the right direction.

"It’s still good news that it (unemployment) is not going up," he said. "It’s a slow recovery everywhere but we’re doing OK."

The state’s unemployment rate had been stuck at 4.4 percent from April through July. August was the 20th straight month that the jobless rate in Hawaii was below 5 percent.

By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate was 6.1 percent in August, down from 6.2 percent in July and 7.2 percent in August 2013.

Overall, unemployment rates rose in nearly half the states in August even as employers in two-thirds of the states added jobs. The U.S. Labor Department says unemployment increased in 24 states, fell in 15, including Hawaii, and was unchanged in 11. Hiring picked up in 35 states, while it fell in 15. Unemployment rates can rise even when hiring increases if more people start looking for work and don’t immediately find jobs.

The state and national labor force data are adjusted for seasonal factors. County jobs data are not seasonally adjusted.

The DLIR report showed that the unemployment rate statewide fell across all counties in August from July. It decreased to 3.8 percent from 4.2 percent in Hono­­lulu County, to 5.3 percent from 6.1 percent in Hawaii County, to 4.7 percent from 5.1 percent in Kauai County and to 4.2 percent from 4.7 percent in Maui County.

Within Maui County the jobless rate on the island of Maui fell to 4.0 percent from 4.5 percent and on Lanai declined to 2.4 percent from 2.7 percent. On Molo­kai, the jobless rate rose to 14.1 percent from 12.0 percent.

The unemployment rate is derived largely from a monthly telephone survey of households. A separate survey of businesses showed that the number of nonfarm jobs in Hawaii rose by 1,500 in August from July. Over the past year the number of jobs has increased by 6,700.

The business categories with the largest job increase on a year-over-year basis were government, which added 2,200 positions, and leisure and hospitality, up 2,100 jobs.