Unemployment still varies widely around Hawaii

Unemployment still varies widely around Hawaii
- 2004-08-23 - Pacific Business News

Howard Dicus

Behind the story of Hawaii's new 3 percent unemployment is, as usual, six different stories of job markets in six islands. Even the broad trend of falling unemployment does not hold uniformly across the state.

Last week, the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations gave everyone the news that in July, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for the state had fallen one tenth from June, just as the national rate had. That meant that while the U.S. jobless rate fell to 5.5 percent, the statewide rate fell to 3 percent. The number of employed Hawaii residents rose by more than 900 to more than 611,000, and the number of officially unemployed residents fell by 600 to less than 19,000.

But look how different the jobless rates are by islands, keeping in mind that the following numbers are NOT seasonally adjusted and would probably be slightly lower if they were:

Oahu: 2.9 percent. Unemployment fell one tenth in the City and County of Honolulu, where 72 percent of the state population resides. Most weeks from the beginning of the year through April, there were about 6,000 people getting unemployment checks on Oahu. Then it began to fall. The count fell below 5,000 in May and bottomed out at 4,518 for the week ending Aug. 7, though it rebounded to 4,816 for the week ending Aug. 14.

Big Island: 5.5 percent. Hawaii County was in line with the national jobless rate, right down to another one tenth decline in July. But the Big Island is a tale of two employment centers. The Kona unemployment office has had fewer than 600 on its rolls since early June, down about a fifth from the start of the year. But the Hilo office has had rolls consistently above 1,000 for two months, after counting only 800 jobless recipients through much of the winter.

Maui: 2.9 percent. Unemployment on the island of Maui fell three tenths. It was also five tenths lower than the rate for all of Maui County, which was skewed by the next island. The week ending May 29 was the last time the island of Maui had more than 1,000 unemployment check recipients.

Molokai: 16 percent. Unemployment actually rose four tenths in July on the Friendly Isle, and is only two tenths lower than it was last summer, the least amount of improvement of any island. Molokai is sparsely populated and a few people can drive the number a lot. Most weeks, new applications for unemployment benefits on Molokai measure around 20. In July, the number one week hit 32. Total Molokai residents getting jobless benefits, a statistic that often falls below 100, rose to 176 one week in July.

Lanai: 2.6 percent. While Lanai has had the lowest jobless rate in the state, and still does, the July number actually reflects an increase of three tenths from June. Still, many economists consider any jobless rate below 3 percent to be something very close to full employment.

Kauai: 3.9 percent. This is a two tenths decline from the month before. Kauai has had about 500 unemployment recipients most of the year. It fell to 465 one week in July but by the week ending Aug. 14 it had rebounded to 525.
Reach Howard Dicus at hdicus@bizjournals.com.