Unemployment
claims, mostly from
visitor industry,
keep rising

Last week's tally was
more than twice the average

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By Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.com

The number of Hawaii workers filing unemployment claims last week increased to more than twice the historical average.

The total number of people filing for assistance last week increased to 3,377, with nearly 800 claims filed on Friday alone. Of those claims, 1,796 were filed on Oahu; 823 on Maui; 242 on Kauai; and 516 on the Big Island.The department usually averages 1,400 filings a week.

Most people filing for assistance said they had either been furloughed, had their hours cut or had been placed "on call" by their employers.

For Chuck Hapgood, a newly hired cook at Duke's Canoe Club Waikiki, the news was more grim: He'd been laid off permanently.

But Hapgood seemed resigned to the news.

"What can you do?" he said.

The numbers will continue to rise for the immediate future, said Tom Jackson, spokesman for the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Most of the applicants -- about 70 percent to 80 percent -- still seem to be coming from tourism and its related support industries, he said.

The department is sending "rapid response" teams to businesses who request on-site service.

To date, inquiries about those services have been received from Hawaiian Airlines, Aloha Airlines, Continental Airlines, United Airlines, Hilton Hawaiian Village, Pacific Beach Hotel, Outrigger Hotel, JW Marriott Ihilani, Waikiki Beach Marriott, Queen Kapiolani Hotel, Ilima Tours, ABC Stores, Paradise Cruises, Atlantis Submarines, Sato Travel and Duty Free Shoppers, Jackson said.

Yesterday, the wait time for claims processing at the Punchbowl unemployment office had dropped substantially compared to Friday.

After an initial early morning rush, lines to submit applications for unemployment assistance were moving briskly, thanks in part to an increase in personnel processing applications.

Additional staff had been deployed to speed up processing and applications were made available outside the door of the unemployment office to help ease congestion inside, Jackson said.

Other state unemployment offices are located in Waipahu and Kaneohe.

The wait is likely to be substantially less in those locations, Jackson said.