Hawaii’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% in February as the state’s labor market remained virtually unchanged.

The U.S. unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose to 3.6% from 3.4%.

“The statistics indicate that Hawaii’s labor market condition has been flat during the past five months,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. “Labor force, employment and the number of people unemployed have been pretty much flat. The flatness may last a few months more before things change.”

Hawaii’s labor force, which includes those who are employed, those who are unemployed but actively seeking work and those who are self-employed, fell to 678,450 in February from 679,100 in January. Those employed dipped to 654,150 from 654,450 in January. The number of people unemployed declined to 24,250 from 24,650.

“I believe the unemployment rate will be trending down during the second half of the year when international tourism improves,” Tian said. “Overall for the year, the unemployment rate will be at 3.4%, slightly lower than the 3.6% experienced during the first two months of 2023.”

Hawaii’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has been either 3.6% or 3.7% every month since August.

Tian said the Federal Reserve’s campaign to keep raising interest rates to flight inflation will affect the state’s housing and construction industries.

“The increase in interest rates will impact the willingness and ability of investment and purchase of real properties,” Tian said. “This will be reflected in the construction industry, and real estate transactions. In January 2023, the value of building permits decreased by 32.1% and the real estate sales during the first two months of 2023 dropped more than 40%. We will see jobs decrease in the two industries.”

Nonfarm payroll jobs rose by 3,700 in February over January, with education and health services leading the way with 500 additional positions, according to data released Thursday by DBEDT. The leisure and hospitality sector was next with a gain of 300 jobs.

Nonfarm payroll jobs are calculated from a mail survey of employers and are considered a better indicator of job growth due to a larger sample size than the labor force data, which is compiled from a telephone survey of households. In the payroll count, one person might be counted multiple times if that person has multiple jobs.

The jobless rate rose in the state’s four major counties in February from January. State and national labor force data is adjusted for seasonal factors, but the county jobs data does not take into account variations such as the winter holiday and summer vacation seasons.

Honolulu County’s jobless rate inched up to 3.2% from 3.1%, Hawaii County’s rate rose to 3.5% from 3.4%, Kauai County’s rate increased to 3.2% from 3.0% and Maui County’s rate went up to 3.2% from 3.1%. In Maui County, Maui’s rate rose to 3.2% from 3.1%, and Molokai’s rate jumped to 4.8% from 3.7%. Lanai’s rate dipped to 2.0% from 2.1%.