Hawaii’s economy is showing steady improvement, with the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reporting a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4 percent for the month of November, falling from 4.1 percent in October.

As the numbers show stable growth, Hawaii employers face the competition of a limited labor market with November marking the fourth month in a row for the unemployment rate to reach a six-year low.

The labor force has grown by 17,000 during the past year. Statewide, 642,850 people were employed and 27,000 were unemployed in November for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 669,850, the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reported on Thursday.

Employment is at a historical high, said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

"It’s very good news," Tian said. "The labor market has continued to improve and the labor market is in the best condition since the recession."

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

Hawaii’s unemployment rate for November was below the national unemployment rate of 5.8 percent, unchanged from October.

Within the major nonagricultural industries, employment gains were seen in professional and business services with 1,600 additional jobs this month. Financial activities added 700 jobs, education and health services added 400 jobs and trade transportation and utilities saw an increase of 100 positions from October.

The economy and low unemployment rate have made it more difficult to find applicants in the financial sector, said Patty Foley, senior vice president, division manager of human resources at Central Pacific Bank.

"With the tight labor market and the economy, we are all fighting for the very same people," Foley said.

The company is taking additional steps to attract potential employees, Foley said.

"It has been several months now that the labor market has been tight. I think employers need to do more. I think we have probably tripled the number of job fairs and we are looking at other ways to find candidates — going to the college campuses or thinking outside of the box working with employment agencies," Foley said.

Central Pacific Bank is trying to fill 69 posted positions. Bank of Hawaii has 80 openings.

Melissa-Raquel Fernandez, project assistant for talent development at Bank of Hawaii, said she had some trouble when applying for jobs online.

"I was going to interviews and they say they’ll call you back; sometimes they never call you back." Fernandez said.

"Then my mom said I should try a temp agency."

Fernandez was officially hired at the bank Dec. 1 after starting with the company in a temporary position in October.

Trade, transportation and utilities made up the largest portion of nonagriculture jobs in the state with 118,000 positions in November. Retail trade saw an increase to 69,400 positions from 68,700 in October.

Urban Outfitters, a clothing store that opened in November in Waikiki, hired about 100 workers upon opening.

According to Alyssa Tee, assistant store manager at Urban, the staff size at the retail store is larger than other stores within the franchise but the Waikiki location is still working to fill open positions.

"We intend to always hire and keep the hiring process open," Tee said.

Zippy’s Restaurant, the combination fast-food and casual dining restaurant chain in Hawaii, has 138 positions advertised.

Zippy’s is constantly looking for people, said Paul Yokota, president of FCH Enterprises Inc., the parent company to the Zippy’s brand.

"We’re in many cases the first employer for a lot of students and young folks; due to that, there is quite a lot of turnover," Yokota said. "We also have a good many who have been here from 20 to 40 years,"

The company is working on different outreach programs, Yokota said, after noting that many employers are having a hard time finding workers.

"We are working even harder to find the right employees. We’ve been developing programs to allow people to grow and move through positions and move into supervisor and management positions," Yokota said. "We have been working with high schools based in all different communities to become a good first employer. We do want to be an employer of choice." 

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 variations such as the winter holiday and the summer vacation seasons.

Across the counties of Hawaii, the average unemployment rate was down in November from October.

The jobless rate decreased in Honolulu to 3.8 percent from 3.9 and fell to 5.1 percent from 5.2 in Hawaii County. The unemployment rate also decreased in Kauai County to 4.6 percent from 4.7 percent and in Maui to 4.2 percent from 4.3 percent.

Within Maui County, Maui island and Lanai saw a decrease in unemployment. Maui Island’s unemployment rate fell to 3.9 from 4 percent and Lanai saw a decrease of 1 percentage point to 1.9 from 2.9.

Molokai saw an increase in unemployment by 0.4 percentage points, with the jobless rate reaching 14.2 percent.