Hawaii’s unemployment rate rose in December for the fourth straight month
as evidence mounted that economic growth in the state is slowing.
The jobless rate rose to a 21-month high of 2.5 percent — still low by historical standards but half a point above Hawaii’s all-time low of 2 percent reached in April and May — according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The last time Hawaii’s unemployment rate reached 2.5 percent was in April 2017. The November jobless rate was 2.4 percent.
“Not only is Hawaii’s economy slowing down, the whole world economy is slowing down,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
DBEDT is forecasting
Hawaii’s unemployment rate to be 2.5 percent this year, up from 2.3 percent in 2018.
Tian, citing the World Bank, said the world economy is forecast to grow
2.9 percent in 2019, lower than 3 percent in 2018, and the U.S. economy will grow 2.5 percent in 2019, down from 2.9 percent in 2018.
“This is the world phenomena, not only in Hawaii,” Tian said. “Due to the size of our tourism industry, the slowing down in the world economy will impact Hawaii.”
Hawaii’s unemployment rate has not been materially affected yet by the partial federal government slowdown that has now lasted
a month. But DLIR said unemployment applications from furloughed workers have begun coming in.
“The federal government shutdown did not significantly impact the December unemployment rate at this point,” DLIR spokesman Bill Kunstman said. “To date, we’ve received 208 applications for unemployment benefits from furloughed federal workers who are not being paid.”
Despite the rising unemployment rate, nonfarm payroll jobs, which includes people who might hold multiple positions, increased by 1,100 in December from the previous month. Leisure and hospitality showed the largest gain, up 1,300 workers, mostly due to the end of a 51-day strike by United Here Local 5 hotel workers against Marriott-managed properties on Oahu and Maui. Construction had the second-largest gain with the addition of
600 jobs. Government payrolls decreased by 1,400 jobs, primarily due to the release of general election workers.
Nonfarm payroll jobs do not include people who are self-employed, and Tian said the discrepancy between the higher unemployment rate and the increase in payroll jobs likely indicates that there were fewer people self-employed in December.
“The increase in payroll employment could not offset the decrease in self-
employed jobs,” he said.
The number of people
in the labor force, which
includes those who are
employed, those who are unemployed but actively seeking work and those who are self-employed, slipped in December to 683,400 from 685,100 the previous month. Those employed dropped to 666,500 from 668,750 while those unemployed rose to 16,900 from 16,350.
Labor force data are compiled from a telephone survey of households, while a separate mail survey of employers calculates nonfarm payroll jobs.
The unemployment rate declined in the state’s four major 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 fell to 2.2 percent from 2.5 percent, Hawaii County’s rate fell to 2.9 percent from
3.3 percent, Kauai County’s rate fell to 2.3 percent from 2.7 percent and Maui County’s rate fell to 2.3 percent from 2.6 percent. Within Maui County, Maui island’s rate fell to 2.3 percent from 2.6 percent, Molokai’s rate fell to
4.3 percent from 4.6 percent and Lanai’s rate fell to 0.5 percent from 1.5 percent.
