Hawaii’s unemployment rate remains stuck in neutral.
The seasonally adjusted measure stayed at 2.8% in July for the fifth month in a row even as the state’s labor force continued to shrink, according to new data released by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
“It’s not positive or negative. (The same jobless rate) just says the labor market, like the economy, is stable,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. “The job market is growing slow, but it is still growing. The unemployment rate is not rising.”
The U.S. unemployment rate also held steady at 3.7%.
Hawaii’s labor force, which includes those who are employed, those who are unemployed but actively seeking work and those who are self-employed, fell for the seventh month in a row to 662,900 from 665,200 in June. It was the lowest number in the labor force since there were 662,647 in March 2014. Labor force data is compiled from a telephone survey of households.
Those employed also declined for the seventh straight month in falling to 644,550 from 646,550. It was the fewest people employed since 643,443 in January 2015.
Tian said he doesn’t think a recession is coming in the next year. But when it does, he expects Hawaii to take a hit.
“We are following the U.S. business cycle,” he said. “It will impact Hawaii because more than 60% of our visitors are coming from the U.S. mainland.”
Tian said there are two factors likely causing the reduction of Hawaii’s labor force.
“It’s a combination of people giving up and not looking for work, or people moving to the mainland,” he said.
The number of people unemployed dropped to 18,350 from 18,650.
Nonfarm payroll jobs, which are calculated from a mail survey of employers, increased by 700 in July from the previous month. The largest gain was in leisure and hospitality, which added 1,000 positions. Education and health services was next with a gain of 700 jobs.
Professional and business services had the largest drop with a loss of 800 jobs.
The unemployment rate fell in all four of the state’s major counties. State and national labor force data is adjusted for seasonal factors, but the county jobs data is not seasonally adjusted and thus does not take into account variations such as the winter holiday and summer vacation seasons.
Honolulu County’s rate decreased to 2.5% from 3.1%, Hawaii County’s rate fell to 3.8% from 4.2%, Kauai County’s rate dropped to 2.7% from 3.1% and Maui County’s rate fell to 2.6% from 3.1%. Within Maui County, Maui’s rate declined to 2.4% from 3%, Molokai’s rate fell to 6.7% from 7.8% and Lanai’s rate held at 1.1%
The state Labor Department also announced Thursday that it is now offering a new unemployment insurance employer web application, and has expanded online services for unemployment claimants proficient in Cantonese and Mandarin by providing translations in Simplified Chinese.
The Labor Department said adding Simplified Chinese was the result of data it compiled on Limited English Proficiency populations served and determining that Cantonese is the most widely used foreign language.
Employers will now be able to electronically file wage and tax data, make tax payments, update and make changes to their accounts and view real-time data. Employers’ filing quarterly wage reports online significantly simplifies the preparation and submission of tax and wage data, saves taxpayers money and results in greater accuracy when calculating taxes due, the Labor Department said.
The state agency is encouraging employers to register with this new application before Jan. 1 when it becomes mandatory. The new website can be found at www.uiclaims.hawaii.gov.
