Hawaii Island’s unemployment rate decreased slightly during July, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
During July, the island’s unemployment rate was 12.8%, down from 13.2% in June and a record high 22.3% in May, according to data released Thursday. That equates to 11,250 people out work.
Statewide, 13.1% of Hawaii’s 635,000-person labor force was without work in July as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to keep thousands out of work, according to the state. That’s up significantly from July 2019 when the state reported an unemployment rate of 2.7%.
Around the state, Honolulu City and County saw its unemployment rate drop from 12.2% in June to 11.1% in July. Kauai’s unemployment rate was down to 18.7% from 19.4.5% while Maui’s rate dropped slightly from 21.6% to 21.3%.
Nationally, unemployment decreased from 11.1% in June to 10.2% in July. A year ago, just 3.7% of the nation’s workforce was without work.
Meanwhile, the state on Thursday said it has issued more than $2.82 billion in unemployment benefits since March 1.
“We are still experiencing a significant increase of workers still attached to an employer being fully released from employment,” DLIR acting director Anne Eustaquio said. “These individuals will need to report the separation when filing a weekly claim certification.”
Claimants can review the correct way to do this at https://labor.hawaii.gov/ui/main/reactivate-your-claim-and-report-job-seperation before filing their weekly claim certification.
Eustaquio also said the department has hired 49 staff to help process regular unemployment insurance claims since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The department is currently interviewing and hiring an additional 41 staff to process both regular unemployment insurance as well as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims.
“The department has worked to hone and refine Pandemic Unemployment Assistance data to more strategically target those with pending claims as well as to evolve processing operations,” Eustaquio said. “We have released about 10,700 PUA claims for payment in the last three weeks by using predictive analytics and other information to auto clear identity verification issues.”