STAR-ADVERTISER / JULY 8, 2013
Honolulu was one of 347 metropolitan areas where the unemployment rate rose in June compared with the previous month. Aloha Air Cargo employee services generalist Cheryl Johnson, right, talks with candidates during a job fair held by Aloha Air Cargo at Honolulu Community College in Kalihi.
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Honolulu’s unemployment rate rose to 4.7 percent in June from 4 percent in May as college graduates and many of those still in school began searching for jobs.
Honolulu was one of 347 metropolitan areas across the country where the unemployment rate rose in June compared with the previous month, according to a report from the U.S. Labor Department. The rate fell in 12 metro areas and was unchanged in 13.
Unlike the national figures, the metro unemployment data are not adjusted for seasonal changes. Many of the cities with significant rate increases have large universities where students graduated in June and began looking for work. And many university workers are temporarily unemployed in the summer when the academic year ends.
Honolulu’s increase caused the city to drop into a tie for the 21st-lowest unemployment rate from 14th lowest in May, according to the report. Still, the June numbers compared favorably with June 2012, when Honolulu’s unemployment rate was 6 percent.
|
272
Number of cities with unemployment rates lower in June than a year earlier
73
Number with higher rates
27
Number with no change
51
Number of cities with a jobless rate of at least 10 percent
26
Number of cities with a jobless rate under
5
percent
|
The statewide non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.2 percent in June, compared with 4.5 percent in May.
Honolulu was in a group of 26 metropolitan areas with jobless rates below 5 percent in June. Bismarck, N.D., had the nation’s lowest rate at 2.8 percent in June. The job market in North Dakota has been helped by a boom in its oil drilling industry.
Yuma, Ariz., which has a heavy concentration of migrant farm workers, reported the highest rate at 31.8 percent in June.
Nationally, the unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in June, down from 8.2 percent a year ago. Employers added 195,000 jobs last month. That’s close to average monthly gain in the first half of this year of 202,000. Hiring averaged only 180,000 a month in the previous six months.