The numbers are disappointing, said Paul Brewbaker, chief economist of Bank of Hawaii. "The best that can be said is it hasn't gotten worse in the past two and a half years," he said. "I'm not encouraged by this. We've been waiting to see some improvement in the employment sector."

The job count of 524,400 in July was down by 4,100 from July 1995 and down by 6,000 from June when the jobless rate was 6.9 percent, according to state Labor Department figures issued yesterday. There were 37,900 people out of work last month, out of a civilian work force of 598,000. The work force was up by 1,100 from June and employment was up by 3,400 at 560,000, resulting in a 2,500 drop in unemployed from June.

The state's education and social services sectors had 8,700 fewer jobs in July compared with June, but local government gained 1,500 jobs.

Social services gained 900 jobs and hotels added 200 positions. Construction added 400 jobs after losing jobs for two months.

The improvement in the jobless rate from June, despite the decline in the number of jobs, may be due to people who had more than one job now being down to one, said Naomi Harada, a Labor Department spokeswoman.

By island, Oahu posted a jobless rate of 5.2 percent for July; Molokai, 18.9 percent; Kauai, 11.1 percent; the Big Island, 10.7 percent; Lanai, 7.2 percent; and Maui, 6.2 percent on Maui.