Chief economists with the state’s two largest banks predict only a small blip on the unemployment radar screen as the result of nearly 400 Amfac Sugar Kaua’i workers losing their jobs earlier this month. In the wake of October’s unemployment
Chief economists with the state’s two largest banks predict only a small blip
on the unemployment radar screen as the result of nearly 400 Amfac Sugar Kaua’i
workers losing their jobs earlier this month.
In the wake of October’s
unemployment rate decrease on the island, to the second-lowest rate of the
year, 5.8 percent, compared to 7 percent in September, figures show that just a
slight shift in numbers of employed or unemployed workers, given our relatively
small workforce (around 30,000), may produce a large movement in the island’s
unemployment rate.
This fact was confirmed earlier by Reynaldo Domingo, a
statistician with the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
(DLIR), which calculates the state and individual-island unemployment rates
based on employer surveys (for job counts), numbers of folks filing
unemployment paperwork, and other figures and factors.
Domingo said that in
a small area like Kaua’i, even a shift of 50 or 100 jobs could have a dramatic
effect on the island’s unemployment rate.
Based on that information, The
Garden Island was ready to call those two economists wrong, and predict that
the island’s November unemployment rate would rise around 2 percentage points
above October’s, or to around 7.8 percent, as a result of the Amfac
closure.
But just adding 400 to the number of unemployed, if the numbers in
the labor force and the number of employed persons remain unchanged from
October’s numbers, would only increase the unemployment rate from 5.8 percent
back up to September’s 7 percent figure.
And, as stated by Francisco
Corpuz, another statistician in the DLIR office, it’s known that all 400
workers didn’t get pink slips Friday, Nov. 17, and that some of those who did
get terminated may have opted for retirement instead of unemployment or other
job options.
Former Amfac workers moving either into new jobs or retirement
would not show up in the unemployment figures, Corpuz said.
Among the
things we’re sure of, the state unemployment office on Kaua’i opened specially
for the Amfac workers on Saturday, Nov. 18, the day after many of them worked
their last days in the sugar industry.
Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. placed
ads in The Garden Island classified section seeking mechanics and machinists,
obviously knowing that several talented people could be instantly on the
market.
The state’s unemployment rate lowered last month to 3.8 percent,
compared to 4.5 percent in September, and 5.2 percent in October of 1999. The
Kaua’i figures are 5.8 percent last month, compared to 7 percent in September
of this year and October of last year.
Once again, Kaua’i last month tied
with the Big Island for highest county unemployment rate. The U.S. unemployment
rate last month was 3.6 percent, down from 3.8 percent in September of this
year and October of last year.
Statewide, the hiring of 3,600 part-time and
intermittent staff at the state Department of Education and University of
Hawai’i system led to the rate decrease, the DLIR reported.
On Kaua’i,
there were 1,700 people unemployed last month (2,100 in September), 27,900
employed (27,700 in September), and a labor force of 29,650 (compared to 29,800
in September).
Statewide, 573,900 people were working last month, 22,900
were unemployed, of the total labor force of 596,700.
Business Editor
Paul C. Curtis can be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext.
224).
