State jobless rate hits 8-year low of 3.2%
Hawaii’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dipped by one-tenth of a point to an eight-year low of 3.2 percent in January after the number was revised upward for December.
The last time the rate was this low was in January 2008, according to data released today by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The unemployment rate a year ago was 4.0 percent.
Total nonfarm jobs in January rose by 2,300 to 644,300 from 642,000 in December.
The U.S. unemployment rate, which was previously announced, was 4.9 percent in January.
The Hawaii labor force, which includes people who are employed and people who are unemployed but actively seeking work, jumped by 3,150 in January to a record 684,250 from the previous high of 681,100 in December.
There were 662,650 people employed in January, a record, topping the previous high of 658,750 people reached in December. Those unemployed decreased to 21,550 from 22,350 over the same period. A year earlier there were 27,000 unemployed.
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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.
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 3.9 percent, Hawaii County’s rate fell to 3.8 percent from 5.0 percent, Kauai County’s rate dropped to 3.6 percent from 4.6 percent and Maui County’s rate fell to 3.3 percent from 4.3 percent.
Within Maui County, Maui island’s jobless rate fell to 3.3 percent from 4.2 percent, Molokai’s rate declined to 6.3 percent from 8.5 percent and Lanai’s rate fell to 2.8 percent from 3.5 percent.
8 responses to “State jobless rate hits 8-year low of 3.2%”
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No excuse to find a job?
Why work when you can freeload?
the numbers are low – if one is not actively seeking employment they are not counted. How many homeless are actively seeking employment!? How many on public assistance are actively seeking employmnet?
When you comment on how unemployment rates are calculated, you should understand these definitions of the various rates (the article refers to U3). People who are “not actively seeking employment” ARE counted, but not in U3:
U1: Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.
U2: Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.
U3: Official unemployment rate occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively looked for work within the past four weeks.
U4: U3 + “discouraged workers”, or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.
U5: U4 + other “marginally attached workers”, or “loosely attached workers”, or those who “would like” and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.
U6: U5 + Part-time workers who want to work full-time, but cannot due to economic reasons (underemployment).
Give it a try: work is good for you.
Lower unemployment does not necessarily mean the economy is doing well. Look at the increase in homelessness before we make the conclusion that all is good. And so Obama takes credit for this?
Yup. It’s all the fault of Democrats who are insisting that people work for a living instead of enjoying life. Or is it the fault of a Republican Congress which seeks to replace low paid immigrants with real “murican workers. Oh well it’s the fault of somebody and we’re not going to stand for it anymore. Let’s make America something-or-other again. (whatever that might be) Is anybody else getting tired of the 2016 political Goat Rodeo?
Everything is somebody’s fault. It doesn’t matter what the headline is or what the story’s about.