Hawaii’s unemployment rate has fallen to 6.6%, vastly better from its COVID-19 high of 21.9%. But despite the many additional job openings, there are people who have dropped out of the job market, at least for now, for a variety of reasons.

Concluding that one of these reasons is desire for more pay and better conditions, some employers are boosting wages and benefits. Where lawmakers have failed to raise the minimum wage, the marketplace may succeed, with the aid of a pandemic push.

Some good sense in Kondo hearings

Finally, a voice of reason amid the devolving cacophony coming from the House special committee investigating the state auditor’s handling of two reports that revealed mismanagement in two state land-use programs.

On Thursday, state Rep. Dale Kobayashi, one of eight committee members, reasonably questioned if the panel had lost its focus. Too much time and effort are being wasted on inexplicable animosity between Auditor Les Kondo and Committee Chairwoman Della Au Belatti, with hearings now set to go into next month.

Enough already. Taxpayers need more delving into the audits’ findings of failings at the Agribusiness Development Corp. and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Special Land and Development Fund.