Isles’ jobless rate no longer lowest
Montana takes over the spot after seven months of Hawaii having the lowest rate
Hawaii's unemployment rate continued to climb as it rose to a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent in March — the third consecutive increase since hitting an all-time low of 2.0 percent in December.
The uptick ended Hawaii's string of having the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at seven straight months. That distinction went to Montana, which ended March at 2.0 percent, according to data released today by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Utah was next at 2.4 percent, followed by Hawaii.
Hawaii's jobless rate last month remained below its 2.6 percent mark of a year earlier and better than the U.S. rate in March of 4.4 percent.
The U.S. jobless rate in March 2006 was 4.7 percent.
The state's total seasonally adjusted nonagricultural jobs rose last month by 1,000 to 625,600 from February, led by the leisure and hospital industry, up 600 jobs, and the trade, transportation and utilities sector, up 400.
Even though the number of people working rose over the previous month by 5,250 to 639,400, the number of people filing for unemployment grew by 1,250 to 16,100. The state labor force remained at 649,000 for the second month in a row.
For the individual islands, whose numbers are calculated only as non-seasonally adjusted, Oahu remained at 2.3 percent and the Big Island stayed at 3.0 percent from March 2006.
Elsewhere, Kauai fell to 2.3 percent from 2.8 percent and Maui dropped to 2.1 percent from 2.3 percent while Molokai rose to 4.6 percent from 4.3 percent and Lanai increased to 2.8 percent from 2.2 percent.