Unemployment down across state

KAILUA-KONA — Hawaii notched the lowest unemployment rate in the nation in July, however, the Big Island continues to see more people out of work than the other three counties in the state.

Statewide, 2.1 percent of the island’s 689,950-person labor force was without work, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR). The rate was unchanged from June and down 2.3 percent from July 2017.

The statewide unemployment rate is the lowest in the nation, including the District of Columbia, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. On top of that, Hawaii has had or shared the lowest rate among the states since November 2016.

Among Hawaii’s four counties, Hawaii County recorded the highest unemployment rate in the state at 3 percent, down from 3.5 percent during June and down slightly from 3.1 percent in July 2017, according to the DLIR. Hawaii County and the island of Molokai, which falls in Maui County, traditionally have the highest unemployment rates, especially since the closure of the sugar industries decades ago.

However, Hawaii County’s rate of 3 percent is still below the national unemployment rate of 3.9 percent and the same or lower than 11 other states’ unemployment rates.

The island’s highest unemployment rate was marked in June 1997 at 12.6. In the past decade, unemployment reached a high of 11.2 percent in 2009 and has declined since.

The county’s lowest unemployment rate was recorded in December when just 2 percent of the county’s 92,750-person labor force was without work.

Unemployment also decreased across the three other counties in the state. Honolulu City and County recorded the lowest rate at 2 percent followed by Maui County with 2.1 percent and Kauai at 2.3 percent.

Around the state, job increases were recorded in trade, transportation and utility (600), financial activities (600), construction (300) and leisure and hospitality (300). Job contraction occurred in manufacturing (100), professional and business services (100) and education and health services (300). Government jobs also increased, to the tune of 400 positions.