Unemployment dipped to 4.5% for isles in July

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Maria Gomez, left, and Dina Hammond of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service spoke with job seekers Amanda Fuchs and Francis Hamasaki at a career job fair sponsored by the University of Phoenix at its Kapolei campus.

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Hawaii’s jobless rate fell in July for the fifth consecutive month, pushing unemployment to its lowest level in nearly five years, the state Department of Labor and Industrial relations reported Thursday.

The jobless rate slipped to 4.5 percent in July from 4.6 percent in June. The last time Hawaii’s unemployment rate was 4.5 percent was in August 2008, according to the report.

The report also showed that private-sector employers boosted their net payrolls by 1,400 in July from June and by 7,700 from July 2012.

"The labor market is looking pretty good," said Eugene Tian, the state’s chief economist. "We’re seeing steady improvement with the unemployment rate declining and the job count increasing."

The national unemployment rate in July was 7.4 percent.

The state and national unemployment numbers are adjusted for seasonal variations, such as college graduates and other students entering the workforce during the summer.

County data are not seasonally adjusted. The DLIR reported that the unemployment rate in Honolulu County fell to 4.2 percent in July from 4.7 percent in June. The rate dropped to 6.8 percent from 7.4 percent in Hawaii County, to 5.3 percent from 5.9 percent in Kauai County and to 4.9 percent from 5.4 percent in Maui County.

The unemployment rate is derived largely from a monthly telephone survey of households.

The payroll numbers are drawn from a separate survey of businesses. That survey showed that the largest areas of job growth in July from June were construction and tourism, which added 1,100 and 700 positions respectively. Compared with July 2012, construction and tourism boosted hiring by 3,400 positions each.

The number of government jobs declined by 1,500 in July from the same month a year earlier. The biggest drop was in federal jobs, which declined by 1,300. The state lost 300 jobs while local governments added 100.

A broader measure of unemployment reported by the DLIR that includes discouraged workers and those working part time but who would like to be in full-time jobs also declined. Called the U-6 rate, it was 11.4 percent in Hawaii in the four quarters ending June 30. That was down from 12 percent for the four quarters ending March 31.