Hawaii new jobless claims are low

Hawaii new jobless claims are low
- 2004-05-25 - Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
Low as the unemployment rate in Hawaii may be, it may actually go lower, and even in a worst case scenario is not likely to rise much when graduating students enter the work force.


The new figure, 3.6 percent, covers the month of April. But fresher figures from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, covering the week ending May 15, show only 1,232 new applications for unemployment, the lowest number of the year to date.

Here's the breakdown of new applicants that week:

Oahu: 700. (Waipahu: 317. Honolulu: 293. Kaneohe: 90.)
Big Island: 267. (Hilo: 185. Kona: 82.)
Maui: 142. (Wailuku: 122. Molokai: 20.)
Kauai: 75.
The total count of Hawaii residents receiving jobless benefits, which ranged from 9,300 to 10,000 from January through April, fell to 8,783 on the week ending May 8 and was 9,409 on the week ending May 15, still one of the year's lower counts to date.

Here's the breakdown of total unemployment benefit recipients:

Oahu: 5,300. The Waipahu office, whose count fell below 2,500 only once before late April, was 2,279 the week ending May 15, the lowest level of the year-to-date. The Honolulu office counted 2,260 and the Kaneohe branch has 761.
Big Island: 1,755. Hawaii County unemployment, which is closer to the mainland rate than the other counties, is concentrated on the eastern side of the island. The Kona office reports 639 jobless benefit recipients but there are 1,116 reporting to the Hilo office, and that's actually the highest count for that office so far this year.
Maui: 1,214. This figure includes a count of 135 jobless benefit recipients on Molokai, fourth highest count of the year. Molokai has ranged from 95 to 144 people collecting unemployment since the year began.
Kauai: 488. Garden Isle unemployed since the year began have ranged from a high of 617 one week in January to a low of 434 one week in April.
Hiring has been strong this year in the tourism and service industries, as well as in health care. A few signs that there are more jobs to come:

The Transportation Security Administration this month announced it will hire an additional 50 airport security screeners in Hawaii.
The Carlyle Group announced Friday it will acquire Verizon Hawaii. Making it an independent phone company will create jobs to do administrative work now done on the mainland.
Norwegian Cruise Line, which has hired hundreds for ramped-up interisland cruises, anticipates needing still more employees later in the year when an additional ship comes into Hawaii service.
Several local technology companies have each been hiring smaller numbers of extra people, for a combined increase of dozens of positions in high-tech operations in the islands.