The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations announced Thursday that Hawaii’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was 22.6%, compared to the revised rate of 23.8% in April.
Statewide, 490,700 were employed and 143,150 unemployed in May for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 633,850.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 13.3 percent in May, down from 14.7 percent in April.
Hawaii County’s unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) was 21.1% in May, down from 23.3% in April.
The state has issued $1.577 billion in unemployment benefits since March 1.
“Ninety percent of the valid unemployment insurance claims that have come in since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic have been processed and paid out by the DLIR, said DLIR Deputy Director Anne Perreira-Eustaquio. “We also have 12,876 clean claims ready for payment of benefits by filing weekly claim certifications.”
A total of 234,398 claims have been filed statewide.