Hawaii’s nation-low unemployment rate held at 2.1 percent in July for the second straight month as the state’s labor market remained on solid footing.
The jobless number, which hit an all-time Hawaii low of 2 percent in April and May, has barely budged in the past 10 months, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The unemployment rate dropped by one-tenth of a point to 2.1 percent in October to begin a string of six straight months at that level before dipping to 2 percent and then ticking back up to 2.1 percent.
“This is indicating that the labor market is stable because it’s been around 2 percent for almost a year,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. “I think it also indicates that the Hawaii labor market has reached a low level, and this might be the lowest it can go in terms of an unemployment rate.”
The number of people in the labor force, which includes people who are employed, those who are unemployed but actively seeking work and those who are self-employed, rose to a record 687,700 from a high of 687,550 the previous month. Those employed remained at 673,350, but those unemployed rose by 150, to 14,350, as more people entered the labor force.
“Definitely, this year the labor market is better than last year,” Tian said. “The biggest gains are in tourism- related industries, which is consistent with the performance of tourism because visitors have increased this year compared with last year.”
Hawaii’s nonagricultural jobs rose by 1,700, to 664,500, from the previous month and are up by 12,700 from 651,800 in July 2017. The leisure and hospitality sector had 128,100 jobs in July, up by 300 from June and ahead by 5,200 from July 2017.
The unemployment rate declined in all four of the state’s major 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 fell to 2.0 percent from 2.6 percent, Hawaii County’s rate dropped to 3.0 percent from 3.5 percent, Kauai County’s rate decreased to 2.3 percent from 2.9 percent and Maui County’s rate fell to 2.1 percent from 2.7 percent. Within Maui County, Maui’s rate fell to 2.0 percent from 2.6 percent, Molokai’s rate dropped to 6.0 percent from 7.3 percent and Lanai’s rate dropped to 1.0 percent from 2.6 percent.
ON THE MOVE
ALS Foundation of Hawaii has announced the following additions to its board of directors:
>> Divina Robillard is a founding board member and the current president of ALSFH. She is a UP Ulumni Association former president and continues to volunteer.
>> Ronaele Whittington is a founding board member and the current secretary for ALSFH. She previously owned her own clinical social work practice.
>> Katherine OConnor is a founding board member and current treasurer for ALSFH. She is also president of Make Today Count and has retired from the Department of Health.
Dr. Jill Inouye has joined the Pali Momi Medical Center staff, where she is specializing in sports medicine. She was previously the head team physician for University of Hawaii athletes as well as staff physician at University Health Services Clinic on the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus. Prior to that she served as staff physician at the Queen’s Center for Sports Medicine.
