New unemployment data for June brought more uncertainty about the health of Hawaii’s job market.
The state’s unemployment rate rose to 6.4 percent in June from 6.3 percent in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, illustrating the sluggish job growth that has plagued the local economy since the end of the recession three years ago.
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 then. The overall U.S. job market has fared slightly better over the same time period, with the unemployment rate falling to 8.2 percent from 10 percent, a drop of 1.8 percentage points.
“Hawaii’s job market is expanding, but it’s been a slow expansion — frustratingly so,” said Leroy Laney, professor of finance and economics at Hawaii Pacific University.
“It’s growing so slowly a lot of people don’t recognize it as an expansion. Job growth is lagging the overall economy,” he said.
A small increase in the unemployment rate to 6.4 percent from 6.3 percent is consistent with the slow nature of the job market recovery, Laney said. “It’s nothing to be concerned about.”
There were 41,500 people looking for work in June, up from 41,350 in May, according to a report from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The number of employed, meanwhile, fell to 607,800 from 612,500. The total labor force, which combines the unemployed and employed, fell to 649,350 in June from 653,850 in May.
The state and national unemployment rates are derived largely from a telephone survey of households. They are adjusted for seasonal variations, such as teachers temporarily leaving the workforce for summer break.
County data are not seasonally adjusted. The unemployment rate for Honolulu rose to 6.4 percent in June from 5.6 percent in May. The rate rose to 10.1 percent from 8.8 percent in Hawaii County and to 8.7 percent from 8.0 percent in Kauai County. In Maui County the unemployment rose to 7.5 percent from 6.6 percent.
A separate survey of businesses showed that the number of payroll jobs in the Hawaii economy fell by a net 1,800 in June from May. Within job categories the biggest decline occurred in education and health services, which lost 1,000 positions. The biggest gain was in “other services,” which added 600 positions.
Compared with a year ago, the number of payroll jobs has increased by 7,100 on a net basis. Much of the growth has been in the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 6,400 jobs.
“The center of the recovery has been in the visitor industry,” Laney said. “It just hasn’t spread as quickly to other sectors of the economy.”
Vesna Sabanovic, who moved to Honolulu from California 18 months ago, said she’s become discouraged after job-hunting without success.
“I hear the economy is doing better and that there are jobs out there, but it’s been difficult,” said Sabanovic, who has a bachelor’s degree in political science from San Francisco State University.
Sabanovic said she’s applied at a range of businesses from insurance companies to restaurants but has not been able to land a job. “I’ve been very disappointed here. I’m thinking about going back to California,” she said.
