Hawaii jobless rate rises
The February jobless rate
of 4.2 percent is still well
below the U.S. average
Hawaii's relatively low unemployment rate is creeping closer to the national average.
Joblessness for February hit 4.2 percent, an increase of 0.3 percentage points over January, according to the latest figures from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. A year earlier, the jobless rate was 3.8 percent.
The figures compare with a national rate that remained at 5.6 percent. Both figures are seasonally adjusted.
For the past 12 months, Hawaii's jobless rate has been on average about 1.7 percentage points lower than the national rate, the department said.
The February increase was partly the result of a decline in the support staff payroll at the Department of Education, the state said in its monthly report.
The effects of the strike by about 200 cement workers in the first week of February, which led to layoffs elsewhere in the construction industry, were minimal in the February job count and unemployment estimates, which were based on the week of Feb. 12, the report said.
In February, the seasonally adjusted labor force totaled 625,100 including 26,000 unemployed.
"We expect the state economy to continue to improve, following the trend that started over a year ago," said Nelson Befitel, director of the labor department. "We are seeing an increase in business confidence in the private sector, which will translate to more jobs during the upcoming months."
The seasonal adjustment eliminates the influence of holiday hirings, the opening and closing of school, weather and other recurring seasonal events. The adjustment makes it possible to more meaningfully compare data from month to month, the Labor Department says.
Honolulu had the lowest rate among the four counties, 3.6 percent, followed by Maui County at 3.7 percent, Kauai at 4.7 percent and Hawaii County at 5.3 percent.
Within Maui County, Maui island was at 3.6 percent, Molokai at 10.1 percent and Lanai at 1.8 percent. Molokai's jobless rate jumped from 7.5 percent in January while Lanai was down from 3 percent.
