Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Tuesday, December 23, 1997

State jobless rate slides to 5.6%

Hawaii's unemployment rate dropped last month, to 5.6 percent, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The national rate was 4.3 percent.

According to state figures released today, unemployment in Hawaii fell 0.3 percent in November from the month before. Hawaii's rate in November 1996 was 6.5 percent.

A total of 560,200 people were employed, an increase of 1,300 from October, the state figures show. Total unemployed, 33,300, dropped by 1,400.

Increases were due to hiring at the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii, and holiday hiring in restaurants and retail shops, the labor department said.

All islands had a decrease in unemployment rates in November compared with both October and November 1996.

Survey finds support for task force plan

Most residents who are aware of the Hawaii Economic Revitalization Task Force support its findings, a survey has found.

The November survey, based on a sampling of 706 registered voters, found nearly two-thirds favoring the panel's recommendations to fix Hawaii's economy. About 52 percent were not aware of the task force, according to the survey which was released today. Of the 48 percent that were, 63 percent supported recommendations.

Conducted by QMark Research & Polling with a 3 percent margin of error, the survey was part of an opinion poll done for Sen. Daniel Inouye.

"It's encouraging to know we have such strong support for the plan," said Gov. Ben Cayetano in a news release today. The 26-member task force was convened last summer to find ways to stimulate Hawaii's economy. Among its most controversial recommendations are cutting income taxes and raising the general excise tax.

Holiday sales by check up 1.4 percent in isles

Holiday spending in Hawaii is outpacing the slight increase seen across the nation, according to one survey.

Houston-based TeleCheck Inc., a major check-authorization company, said today that the dollar volume of sales by check in Hawaii were up 1.4 percent for the first 24 days of the Christmas shopping season compared with the same period last year.

The nation's retailers on average saw a 0.5 percent rise in sales by check for the period from the day after Thanksgiving through Sunday, TeleCheck said. Retailers in Hawaii and nationwide say they have had to slash prices to attract customers this season.

Cayetano: No increase in unemployment tax

The state's unemployment insurance tax rate will not be increased.

And employers who had no unemployment charged against their reserves in 1997 may be moved to a lower rate, which will save them money, Gov. Ben Cayetano said yesterday. He said this is "further evidence that Hawaii's economy is stabilizing."

The Hawaii Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund has a balance of $226 million. The fund peaked at $400 million in 1991, when the state unemployment rate was 2.8 percent. The state's jobless rate was 5.9 percent in October.

Washington firm plans U.S.-Asia fiber-optic link

WASHINGTON -- Neptune Communications Corp. plans to buy two undersea-cable companies for $70 million and build a $1 billion undersea phone fiber-optic cable linking Asia, Hawaii, and the U.S. mainland.

Washington-based Neptune will buy Pacific Telecom Cable Inc. and Pacific Telecom Transmission Services Inc. from Monroe, La.-based Century Telephone Enterprises Inc. Neptune said it is seeking partners to help it build the cable, called the Pacific Express Cable Network, which will link the Pacific Northwest and Canada with Hawaii, Guam, Japan, Korea and, perhaps, China.

The cable will put Neptune in competition with AT&T Corp., Japan's Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. and 12 other partners in their own U.S.- Asia fiber-optic link, according to Bloomberg News.