Hawaii’s unemployment rate plunged to 8.5% in April

Hawaii’s unemployment rate continued its sharp descent last month as the state’s economic recovery picked up speed.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate plunged six-tenths of a percentage point to 8.5% in April as the state added 10,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The number for March was revised upward to 9.1% from 9.0%.

“The 8.5% unemployment is a good improvement,” Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said via email. “Comparing with the U.S. unemployment rate between March and April, Hawaii had an improvement from 9.1% to 8.5% while U.S. experienced an increase from 6.0% to 6.1%. Hawaii’s labor market condition has been improving steadily since September 2020 (when Oahu had its second lockdown).”

In March 2020 the jobless rate was 2.1% before it soared to an all-time high of 21.9% the following month when the pandemic sent the state’s economy reeling. Now with increased hiring, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate has been on a steady downward trend and is at its lowest level since the pandemic began.

Nonfarm payroll jobs rose to 562,100 in April from 552,100 in March and were significantly higher than 509,800 in April 2020. An increase of 5,500 jobs last month in the state’s leisure and accommodations sector accounted for more than half of those additional jobs to help drive the growth.

“In April 2021, non-ag payroll job count has recovered to about 85% of the January 2020 level (at 662,300, pre-COVID), while in April 2020, non-ag job count was at 77% of the pre-COVID level. The improvement is 8 percentage points,” Tian said. “The improvement has been steadily slow. We still have about 100,000 jobs that need to be called back. The full job recovery may take a few years.”

Hawaii’s economy has been helped by more people getting vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, Oahu gradually loosening restrictions and an uptick in the tourism market.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose 9.2% to 3,848 in April from March for the second monthly increase in a row, but initial claims primarily have been in a downtrend since topping out at 34,233 in April 2020. Through Saturday, initial unemployment claims for May were just 2,717. The increase in April might have been attributed to the shutdown of Love’s Bakery at the end of March. Love’s Bakery had 231 employees.

The number of people in April continuing to claim weekly benefits decreased 2.6% from March as more people returned to work.

That number figures to keep going down following Gov. David Ige’s announcement Thursday that the state is reinstating job-search rules that require unemployed people to search for work to qualify for unemployment benefits. Ige said the change will begin May 30.

“With the accelerated improvements in our economy led by tourism recovery, we expect that Hawaii’s unemployment rate may fall below 7% by the end of the year,” said Tian, noting that DBEDT will release its new state economic projections next week.

The state’s labor force. which includes those who are employed, those who are unemployed but actively seeking work and those who are self-employed, dipped in April to 649,750 from 649,950 in March. The number of people employed rose to 594,400 — the second highest since the beginning of the pandemic — from 590,900. Those unemployed declined to 55,350, the lowest since the beginning of the pandemic, from 59,100. Labor force data is compiled from a telephone survey of households.

The 10,000-job increase in nonfarm payroll jobs, which are calculated from a mail survey of employers, are considered a better indicator of job growth because of a larger sample size.

The unemployment rate fell in the state’s four major counties in April from the previous month. State and national labor force data is adjusted for seasonal factors, but the county jobs data does not take into account variations such as the winter holiday and summer vacation seasons.

Honolulu County’s jobless rate decreased to 7.2% from 7.7%, Hawaii County’s rate dropped to 7.9% from 8.5%, Kauai County’s rate fell to 12.7% from 13.1% and Maui County’s rate declined to 11.5% from 12.3%. In Maui County, Maui’s rate fell to 11.7% from 12.6%, Molokai’s rate rose to 7.8% from 6.7% and Lanai’s rate decreased to 4.2% from 5.0%.

Hawaii had the highest unemployment rate in the country in March, but its ranking for April won’t be determined until today when the U.S. Department of Labor releases figures for the rest of the states.