State unemployment rate drops to 3.2%

Hawaii’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell for the sixth straight month to 3.2 percent in November to match its lowest level in nearly eight years.

The last time the rate was this low was in January 2008, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Total nonfarm jobs last month rose by 1,000 to 638,800 from 637,800 in October.

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

Over the past six 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, 3.3 percent in October and now 3.2 percent in November.

“I think the increase is mainly due to the boom in the construction industry, and I think the situation will continue into the next few months because the construction activity will continue to improve,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

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

Tian said he can’t predict whether the current downward trend will reach that level.

“It’s a good trend and it’s going that direction, but what the bottom is going to be we don’t know,” he said. “Hawaii is following the national trend as the labor market continues to improve nationwide as well.”

The Hawaii labor force, which includes people who are employed and people who are unemployed but actively seeking work, jumped by 2,500 last month to a record 679,900 from the previous high of 677,400 in October.

There were 657,800 people employed last month, a record, topping the previous record of 654,850 reached in October, while those unemployed declined to 22,100 from 22,600 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 600 jobs, to 35,200, from October. Last month’s construction job total was up by 3,900 from November 2014. Jobs in the educational and health services rose by 400 to reach 81,500. The largest contraction came in the trade, transportation and utilities sector, which lost 400 positions from the previous month in dropping to 120,000 jobs.

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 3.0 percent from 3.2 percent, Hawaii County’s rate fell to 4.1 percent from 4.2 percent, Kauai County’s rate dropped to 3.9 percent from 4.0 percent and Maui County’s rate fell to 3.4 percent from 3.6 percent.

Within Maui County, Maui island’s jobless rate fell to 3.2 percent from 3.3 percent, Molokai’s rate declined to 8.2 percent from 9.7 percent and Lanai’s rate fell to 4.0 percent from 6.1 percent.