Hawaii’s unemployment rate declined to a one-year low of 3.3% in April amid continued signs of improvement in the local labor market.

The seasonally adjusted rate was down from 3.5% in March and matched the 3.3% in April 2022, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Hawaii’s rate also fell below the U.S. rate, which dipped one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.4%.

“The unemployment rate is improving mainly due to the recovery of Hawaii’s economy, especially tourism,” DBEDT chief economist Eugene Tian said. “Hawaii’s economy will continue to improve for the rest of the year. Inflation dropped significantly in March this year, from 5.2% in January to 3.3% in March. Inflation will drop more in the future months.”

Tian said the state lost 750 people from its labor force in February compared with January, but noted that the labor force has been stable since that time.

“With the economy slowing down on the U.S. mainland, especially the technology companies, we expect the trend of outmigration (from Hawaii) will turn around this year, which will help to keep our labor force stable or slightly increase,” he said.

DBEDT expects the state’s unemployment rate to continue to improve in future months, though at a slower pace, and average 3.2% this year.

In another sign of an improving labor market, the average number of weekly initial unemployment claims for April was 1,103, lower than 1,180 during the same month in 2019, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

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 to 678,900 in April from 678,400 in March. Those employed increased to 656,400 from 654,850. The number of people unemployed declined to a one-year low of 22,500 from 23,550.

Nonfarm payroll jobs fell in April to 631,100 from 632,100 in March, with the construction industry showing the biggest job decrease with 1,000 lost positions, essentially accounting for all of the job decline. About half of those construction jobs lost were attributed to specialty trade contractors. The professional and business services sector had the largest job increase with 500. The 1,000-job decline in nonfarm payroll positions, as compared to a gain of 1,550 in the labor force, indicates that the increase in employment was mainly in the self-employment category.

Nonfarm payroll jobs are calculated from a mail survey of employers and are considered a better indicator of job growth due to a larger sample size than the labor force data, which is compiled from a telephone survey of households. In the payroll count, one person might be counted multiple times if that person has multiple jobs.

The jobless rate fell in the state’s four major counties in April from March. 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 slipped to 2.6% from 2.9%, Hawaii County’s rate dropped to 3.0% from 3.4%, Kauai County’s rate fell to 2.6% from 3.0% and Maui County’s rate plunged to 2.8% from 3.4%. In Maui County, Maui’s rate fell to 2.8% from 3.4%, Molokai’s rate declined to 4.6% from 5.1% and Lanai’s rate decreased to 2.5% from 2.8%.