Hawaii’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.4 percent in July from June on a seasonally adjusted basis, the state reported Friday.
A drop in the number of unemployed workers was offset by an even larger number who exited the workforce entirely.
There were 40,950 people looking for work in July, down from 41,500 in June, according to the report from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Meanwhile, the total labor force fell to 644,050 from 649,300 during the same period. As a result of the workforce shrinkage, the number of unemployed as a percentage of the total was statistically unchanged.
Hawaii’s jobless rate, which peaked at 7.1 percent in the summer and fall of 2009, has fallen by just seven-tenths of a percentage point since that time. The overall U.S. job market has fared slightly better over the same period, with the unemployment rate falling to 8.3 percent from 10 percent, a drop of 1.7 percentage points.
State and U.S. unemployment data are adjusted for seasonal variations, such as teachers returning to work after summer break. Public school teachers in Hawaii reported back to work in the last week of July.
County data are not seasonally adjusted. The unemployment rate for Honolulu fell to 5.7 percent in July from 6.3 percent in June. The rate fell to 9.3 percent from 10.1 percent in Hawaii County and to 7.8 percent from 8.7 percent in Kauai County. In Maui County the unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent from 7.6 percent.
The unemployment rate is derived largely from a telephone survey of households. A separate survey of businesses showed that the number of nonfarm jobs in the Hawaii economy rose by a net 2,800 in July from June.
Within job categories the biggest increase was in professional and business services, which added 1,600 jobs. The construction industry picked up 800 positions, while manufacturing added 400, according to the report.
The uptick in construction employment was concentrated among contractors specializing in electrical work, structural steel and precast concrete, the Labor Department reported. Manufacturing jobs gains occurred in ship building and repairing, largely because of the Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, military exercises, according to the Labor Department.
The biggest job losses were in government, which shed 400 positions, and leisure and hospitality, which dropped 100 jobs.
