State jobless rate
slips in March

Star-Bulletin staff

Hawaii unemployment was 5.5 percent last month, an improvement from 6.4 percent in March 1997 and down slightly from 5.6 percent in February, the state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations said today.

The March figures showed 1,600 more jobs than there were in February but Hawaii still was down 4,000 nonagricultural wage and salary jobs from a year earlier. The state reported 532,400 jobs last month compared to 536,400 in March 1997.

The department said that hiring of temporary workers in the business services sector provided 600 new jobs in March, compared with February. Two hotels on Maui added a total of 200 jobs because of improved business and manufacturing added 200 jobs.

The unemployment rates for the counties were: Oahu, 4.6 percent, down from 5.3 percent a year earlier; Hawaii, 8.3 percent, down from 9.8 percent; Kauai, 11 percent, down from 11.6 percent; and Maui, 6.3 percent, down from 7.3 percent.

Nationwide unemployment averaged 5 percent last month.