Honolulu unemployment is among nation’s lowest

Honolulu’s unemployment rate declined to 4.2 percent in July, tying it for the 13th lowest jobless rate among 372 metropolitan areas nationwide, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday.

Honolulu improved from 21st place on the list in June when the city’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent.

Unemployment rates fell in two-thirds of U.S. metro areas in July, a sign of widespread improvement in the job market. Honolulu was one of 239 metropolitan areas nationally in which the unemployment rate declined in July from June, according to the Labor Department.

The report also showed that fewer cities are reporting unusually high unemployment rates. Forty-one cities reported a rate above 10 percent last month, down from 67 a year earlier.

Job growth has accelerated faster in Hono­lulu County compared with the rest of the state in recent years thanks to a relatively stronger economy. Elsewhere in the state, the July unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in Maui County, 5.3 percent in Kauai County and 6.8 percent in Hawaii County. County job market data are not adjusted for seasonal variations, such as students looking for work during summer break.

The statewide non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in July. Nationally, the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 7.4 percent.

The nation’s lowest unemployment rates were mostly in the Plains states and the Midwest. Bismarck, N.D., and Sioux Falls, S.D., which are riding an economic boom fueled by growth in the region’s oil industry, were at the bottom of the list with jobless rates of 2.5 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum were Yuma, Ariz., and El Centro, Calif., adjoining towns on the Mexican border, with jobless rates of 34.5 percent and 26.1 percent, respectively.

The Labor Department calculates unemployment rates largely based on a telephone poll of households. A separate survey of businesses showed that the number of nonfarm payroll jobs in Hono­­lulu fell to 444,500 in July, down 7,100 jobs from June. The payroll job count in July was up 4,500 from July 2012.