Jobless rate
at 14-year low

Growth in Hawaii's construction,
health services and trade industries
drop unemployment to 2.8%

Joblessness in Hawaii hit a 14-year low last month, when the statewide unemployment rate dropped to 2.8 percent.

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said yesterday that Hawaii's jobless rate was down 0.2 percent in March from February's 3 percent, making it the fourth consecutive month of lower unemployment.

The March jobless rate compares with a national rate of 5.2 percent and a March 2004 Hawaii jobless rate of 3.6 percent.

The last time Hawaii's unemployment rate was 2.8 percent was in March 1991.

The rate could continue to fall for more than a year, said Paul Brewbaker, chief economist for Bank of Hawaii.

"It's actually not really low. Really low for us, for Hawaii, really low is 2 percent," Brewbaker said. "We're headed there and we may get there."

State Labor Director Nelson Befitel attributed the low rate to long-term growth in the construction, trade and health services industries. He also credited the Lingle administration's pro-jobs initiatives.

Hawaii gained 800 nonagricultural jobs last month, seasonally adjusted, for a state total of 592,500 jobs compared with March 2004's 591,700, according to the Labor Department.

The trade, transportation and utilities industries added 300 jobs while the construction and manufacturing sectors were flat.

The hotel and leisure industry and health services and education sectors each lost 100 jobs.

Nadine Stollenmaier, president of Kailua-based Dunhill Professional Staffing of Hawaii, said her company has seen a fivefold increase in demand for temporary hires and permanent placements during the past several years.

Requests for permanent placements in executive-level and construction jobs has risen at the same rate thanks to a building boom and the strong local economy, she said.

"Because the economy is booming, more and more companies are coming in," she said.

Toward the end of the state's last big economic expansion, on the eve of the first Gulf War, the state's unemployment bottomed out in similar economic circumstances as today, Brewbaker said.

Unemployment may decline through 2006, Brewbaker said, before rising labor costs, housing prices and oil prices boost inflation, slowing the state's economy.

"It's building, however gradually," he said, "But it's not going to be an extremely loud crescendo."