Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, May 24, 1996
Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, May 24, 1996
The state unemployment rate rose to 5.8 percent last month, from 5.6 percent in March, to surpass the U.S. jobless rate of 5.4 percent, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said on Thursday.
The department attributed Hawaii's increase to a significant number of restaurants, a tour bus company and retail stores trimming jobs. In April, six Oahu restaurants run by Trans/Pacific Restaurants Inc. closed after the California company filed for bankruptcy. Also, Hawaii's third-largest tour bus company, Gray Line, closed because of a decline in tourism revenues.
Although Kauai's rate dropped by 0.5 percent from March, the county continued to have the highest jobless rate in the state with 11 percent, followed by the Big Island at 9.4 percent, Maui at 6.6 percent and Oahu at 4.8 percent.
The company, which sells digital cellular phone service in Hawaii under the name VoiceStream Wireless, sold 11 million shares at $23.50 each.
In its first day of trading on the Nasdaq stock market on Thursday, the stock closed at $25.
It was the lowest since May 2, when rates averaged 7.99 percent. Rates had risen to 8.24 percent on May 9.
On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.75 percent, down from 5.78 percent last week.
Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 7.51 percent this week, down from 7.59 percent a week earlier.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.