Isle jobless rate continues to drop, hitting 3.3% in October

Hawaii’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dipped in October to a seven-year low of 3.3 percent amid continued improvement in the state’s economy.

It was the fifth month in a row that the rate has fallen, and matched the lowest level since February 2008, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Total nonfarm jobs jumped by 2,600, to 637,100 from 634,500 in September.

The U.S. rate, which was announced earlier this month, was 5.0 percent.

“The data shows that Hawaii’s labor market continues to improve,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. “Both labor force and employment in October are (at) historical monthly record highs.”

Over the past five months, the state jobless rate gradually has dropped from 4.1 percent in May. It was 4.0 percent in June, 3.7 percent in July, 3.5 percent in August, 3.4 percent in September and 3.3 percent in October.

Hawaii’s lowest unemployment rate ever was 2.3 percent in October, November and December 2006.

The labor force, which includes people who are employed and people who are unemployed but actively seeking work, jumped by 2,100 last month to a record 677,200 from 675,100 in September. The previous record was 676,300 in May.

There were 654,700 people employed last month, a record, versus the previous record of 651,900 reached in September, while those unemployed declined to 22,500 from 23,200 over the same period.

The unemployment rate and nonfarm payroll numbers are derived from separate surveys. Hawaii’s unemployment rate is derived largely from a monthly telephone survey of households, while a separate survey of businesses determines the number of nonfarm payroll jobs. The nonfarm payroll jobs figure includes people who might hold multiple jobs but doesn’t include people who are self-employed.

The largest increase in nonfarm jobs last month came from construction, which rose by 1,100 jobs, to 34,700, from September. Last month’s total was up by 3,000 from October 2014.

The government sector, which posted the second-largest monthly increase, added an additional 1,000 jobs, to 124,800, in October from September.

Unemployment rates, meanwhile, fell in all four main Hawaii counties. 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 summer vacation seasons.

Honolulu County’s rate declined to 3.2 percent from 3.4 percent, Hawaii County’s rate fell to 4.2 percent from 4.4 percent, Kauai County’s rate dropped to 4.0 percent from 4.2 percent and Maui County’s rate fell to 3.6 percent from 3.8 percent.

Within Maui County, Maui island’s jobless rate fell to 3.3 percent from 3.6 percent while Molokai’s rate rose to 9.7 percent from 9.0 percent and Lanai’s rate increased to 6.1 percent from 2.8 percent.