Hawaii’s unemployment rate is flirting with making state history.
The seasonally adjusted number dipped to 2.5 percent in September and is now one-tenth of a percentage point away from its
all-time low, according to U.S. Labor Department data that go back to 1976.
Hawaii’s lowest rate ever of 2.4 percent was achieved from October through December 2006 and from May through September 1989.
“The rate is remarkable from a historical perspective,” said Linda Chu Takayama, director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Despite forecasts that growth in the state economy is slowing, the jobless rate continues to fall. As of August it was the third lowest in the nation, behind North Dakota at 2.3 percent and Colorado at 2.4 percent. The U.S. Labor Department will release the unemployment rates of all the states today.
“It’s a strong economy,” said Jack Suyderhoud, a retired University of Hawaii business economics professor, an economic consultant and a member of the state Council on Revenues.
“The visitor number has been strong; relatively lately the general excise numbers have been strong. What we have at least for now is a strong economy where
employers are looking for workers.”
Suyderhoud said he was recently talking to a new restaurant operator and was told that it’s hard to staff the workplace. “He said people want only certain types of working hours, and they’re picky about the kind of jobs they want to do,” Suyderhoud recounted. “So in an environment like this, it’s hard to grow a business.”
But Suyderhoud said recent economic reports that call for a slowing economy still could come to fruition.
“The employment market always lags the economy somewhat,” he said. “The economy might be slowing down somewhat, but it will take a while before the job market slows down.”
Hawaii’s nonagricultural payroll job count, which includes multiple jobs held by one person but does not include self-employed jobs, increased by 3,100 jobs last month to 658,900 from 655,800 in August.
Hawaii’s labor force, which includes people who are employed, those who are unemployed but actively seeking work, and those who are self-employed, fell last month
to 688,750 from 690,400 in August. There were 671,800 employed in September, down from 672,350 the previous month. The number of unemployed declined to 16,950 from 18,050.
In an oddity, the unemployment rate across the state remained the same in September from the previous month in all four of the main counties. State and national labor-force data are adjusted for seasonal factors, but the county jobs data are not seasonally adjusted and thus do not take into account variations such as the winter holiday and summer vacation seasons.
Honolulu County’s rate held at 2.3 percent, Hawaii County’s rate remained at 2.8, Kauai County’s rate stayed at 2.3 percent and Maui County’s rate held at 2.5 percent. Within Maui County, Molokai’s rate fell to 6.7 percent from 7.4 percent while Maui island’s jobless rate rose to 2.4 from 2.3 percent and Lanai’s
rate increased to 4.3 from 3.1 percent.
