Kaua‘i unemployment up slightly; state jobless rate drops 1.3 percent

A month after Kaua‘i recorded what may have been its lowestever jobless count, 1,100, the island’s unemployment rate jumped back up above 4 percent in June.

State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations figures released recently show the June seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for Kaua‘i was 4.1 percent.

That means around 1,300 Kauaians weren’t working in June, up about 200 workers from May’s jobless count, which equated to a 3.6-percent unemployment rate. That 3.6-percent rate may have also been the lowest recorded in the island’s history.

Still, the June jobless figure showed 500 more people working than in June 2003, when 1,700 here were out of work. Locally, business leaders consider the 4- percent jobless figure “full employment,” meaning all who are actively looking for jobs probably found them. The numbers were better statewide, with a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.1 percent for the state, making June the second consecutive month that Hawai‘i has posted the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. In comparison, the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in June was unchanged for the month, at 5.6 percent. “A robust local economy has accounted for the sustained job growth that has added 12,000 new jobs since June of last year,” said Nelson Befitel, DLIR director.

In June there were 610,100 employed and 19,350 unemployed in the state, from a total civilian labor force of 629,450. Since June 2003, the number of employed has grown by 20,300, or 3.4 percent, while the unemployed population has steadily declined by 29 percent, to 7,900. In another measure of employment, total seasonally adjusted non-agricultural jobs decreased by 900, or 0.2 percent in June over May, to 576,300. Much of the job decline was due to reduced support positions at the state Department of Education in anticipation of summer.