Hawaii’s unemployment rate dipped to a six-year low of 4.2 percent in September as employers added 2,700 jobs from the previous month and the state’s economy continued to improve.
It was the second consecutive monthly decline and the lowest level for the seasonally adjusted jobless rate since the early stages of the recession in July 2008, when it was 4.1 percent.
Hawaii’s labor force, which includes those who are employed and others who are unemployed but actively seeking work, rose to a record 665,950, according to data released Monday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
New claims for unemployment benefits fell 17.4 percent from a year ago and dropped 4 percent from August while existing claims decreased 18.8 percent from September 2013 and fell 5.4 percent from last month.
"It continues to be favorable news, and it’s a gradually improving economy that we hope continues," said Leroy Laney, a professor of economics and finance at Hawaii Pacific University. "I would emphasize the word ‘gradually’ because there are some pockets of weakness in the economy. We’re not approaching a boom this time, but we are doing well."
Laney singled out tourism as a sector that could be performing better. Visitor arrivals to Hawaii for the first eight months of the year were up just 0.1 percent, according to the latest data from the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
The construction industry, which state economists are counting on to offset decelerating tourism numbers, hasn’t been as robust this year as many economists had forecast. But the sector did add 1,000 more workers in September than in August and 700 more last month from September 2013. There is an influx of new developments coming online statewide, with many of those congregated in the Kakaako area.
"That’s probably some of the underpinning to the strengthening economy," Laney said. "We went so long without the reviving construction sector."
Last month’s numbers were an improvement over August, when the jobless rate was 4.3 percent and there were 662,700 people in the labor force. The state’s unemployment rate had been stuck at 4.4 percent from April through July until falling the past two months. September was the 21st straight month that the jobless rate in Hawaii was below 5 percent.
The U.S. unemployment rate, which was released earlier this month, was 5.9 percent for September.
The state and national labor force data are adjusted for seasonal factors. But the county jobs data are not seasonally adjusted and thus do not take into account seasonal variations, such as recent high school and college graduations at the end of the school year that can inflate the jobless rate.
The DLIR report showed that the unemployment rate statewide rose across all counties in September from August. It increased in Honolulu County to 4.0 percent from 3.8 percent, in Hawaii County to 5.4 percent from 5.2 percent, in Kauai County to 4.8 percent from 4.7 percent, and in Maui County to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent.
Within Maui County the jobless rate on the island of Maui rose to 4 percent from 3.9 percent, on Molokai it jumped to 15.6 from 14.1 percent and on Lanai it rose to 2.5 percent from 2.3 percent.
The unemployment rate is derived largely from a monthly telephone survey of households, while a separate survey of businesses determines the number of nonfarm jobs.
In Hawaii the number of nonfarm payroll jobs rose last month by 9,700 over September 2013. During that 12-month period, the business categories with the largest job increase on a year-over-year basis were professional and business services, as well as educational and health services, each with 1,900 additional positions. Trade, transportation and utilities added 1,800 jobs, while leisure and hospitality jobs increased by 1,400.
