Isle jobless
rate stays low

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Star-Bulletin staff and wire

Hawaii's statewide unemployment rate increased slightly last month, but still remains lower than the national unemployment rate, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said yesterday.

June's rate was 4.5 percent, down 0.4 percent from June 2001. The rate compares with 4.2 percent in May 2002.

The national unemployment rate in June was 6.0 percent, an increase of 0.05 percentage point from May.

In June, 570,900 Hawaii residents had jobs, while 26,900 were out of work.

For the first six months of 2002, Hawaii's monthly unemployment rate has been about 1.5 percentage points lower than the monthly national rate.

Oahu had the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 4.0 percent last month.

Oahu was followed by Lanai (4.1 percent), Maui Island (4.2 percent), Kauai (5.4 percent), the Big Island (7.0 percent) and Molokai (8.1 percent).