Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Jobless rate
falls to 4.4%
The number dropped from 5.7%
By Russ Lynch
a year ago amid improvement
in the state's economy
Star-BulletinHawaii's unemployment rate dropped to 4.4 percent last month, down more than a percentage point from 5.7 percent in March 1999 and only one-tenth of a point higher than the national average.
The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said yesterday that there were 26,500 people out of work in Hawaii last month, a 20.9 percent decline from 33,500 in the year-earlier month.
The nonagricultural job count, considered a good measure of the state's economy, was up 2 percent from a year earlier at 543,550 last month compared with 532,900 in March 1999.
The jobless rate was down significantly from a year ago on all islands except Molokai, with Oahu holding on to its traditional position as the leader at a jobless rate of only 3.9 percent, a substantial improvement from 5 percent in March 1999.
Big Island unemployment was at 6.7 percent last month, down from a year-earlier 8.6 percent. Maui's jobless rate was 4.3 percent last month, down from 6 percent. Kauai was at 6.2 percent, down from 8.2 percent. Lanai had a jobless rate of 3.2 percent, down from 4.8 percent a year ago. Molokai, however, had an unemployment rate of 10.6 percent last month, an increase from 9.5 percent in March 1999.
The U.S. unemployment rate, which had been significantly better than Hawaii's level for much of the late 1990s, was 4.3 percent last month.
The major employment sectors in Hawaii all showed year-over-year employment increases last month. There were 112,750 jobs in retailing last month, a 1.9 percent increase from 110,650 in March 1999. There were 176,350 jobs in the service sector last month, including hotels, health care and education, up 1.4 percent from 173,850 a year earlier. Government jobs last month totaled 117,550, up 2.5 percent from 114,650.
