State unemployment rates ends steady year at 2.6%

Hawaii’s unemployment rate ended 2019 at the same level it finished the previous year.

The state’s slow-growing economy was never more evident than in the seasonally adjusted jobless rate where it remained at 2.6% in December and barely moved the entire year, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The 2.6% matched the November rate as well as the rate at the end of December 2018. During 2019 the unemployment rate barely moved as it remained in a range of 2.6% to 2.8%.

“Our economy is stable at a lower growth pace,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. “Toward the end of 2019, our economy was doing better with visitor spending increased and tax revenues increased.”

Tian expects more of the same from the economy this year with DBEDT forecasting 1.2% economic growth. Hawaii’s growth rate was 1.1% through the first three quarters of 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

“We expect the labor market to have similar growth in 2020,” he said. “The unemployment rate will increase slightly.”

Hawaii’s labor market has been mirroring the U.S unemployment rate, which remained at a 50-year low of 3.5% in December.

“The labor market in Hawaii remains healthy and is on the rise,” Tian said.

Nonfarm payroll jobs, which are calculated from a mail survey of employers and include people who might hold multiple positions, rose by 3,200 in December from the previous month.

Most of the strength came from 1,300 more jobs in leisure and hospitality. The government category also increased by 1,000 jobs, in part due to the absence of the biennial need to release election workers. The 664,200 jobs in the state at the end of the year were up 5,000 from the job count at the end of 2018.

Hawaii’s labor force, which includes those who are employed, those who are unemployed but actively seeking work and those who are self employed, rose in December for the third straight month after nine straight monthly declines. The number of people in the labor force rose to 664,550 from 662,750 in November, but the labor force was down from 677,700 at the end of 2018.

The number of people employed last month rose to 647,000 from 645,250 in November. Those unemployed edged up to 17,550 from 17,500.

“The job count in December was at a historical high due to the growth in tourism,” Tian said. “The leisure and hospitality job count (127,700) was also at a historical high level,” as was the accommodation and food services jobs category (114,800 jobs).

The unemployment rate declined in the state’s four major counties in December from the previous month. 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 fell to 2.1% from 2.4%, Hawaii County’s rate declined to 3% from 3.3%, Kauai County’s rate dropped to 2.5% from 2.9% and Maui County’s rate slipped to 2.2% from 2.5%. Within Maui County, Maui’s rate dipped to 2.2% from 2.5%, and Lanai’s rate fell to 1% from 1.9%. Molokai’s rate rose to 5% from 4.5%.