LIHU‘E — The unemployment rate on Kaua‘i continued to hover around 10 percent in September, despite some 290 employees of the St. Regis Princeville Resort returning to work last month. While the reason for the discrepancy could not be pinpointed
LIHU‘E — The unemployment rate on Kaua‘i continued to hover around 10 percent in September, despite some 290 employees of the St. Regis Princeville Resort returning to work last month.
While the reason for the discrepancy could not be pinpointed Wednesday, it is likely because of a “seasonal adjustment” and the number of layoffs counteracting the amount of individuals re-hired, said Ryan Markham, information officer for the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
There were no reported mass layoffs for Kaua‘i last month, but it could just be a “steady” stream of unemployment across the island, he said Wednesday.
The 9.6 percent September unemployment rate for Kaua‘i is more than three times what it was two years ago and is higher than the state’s 7.5 percent average.
Local economists say it’s far from over, Markham said.
“Even if signs of recovery are here, there’s going to be a lag,” he said. “We can’t really forecast it, but we’ve been speaking to economists to prepare for programs.”
An estimated 10 to 18 months is what the DOL is anticipating before an economic upswing could occur.
Though Hawai‘i was tied for the 14th lowest unemployment rate in the nation last month, some 2,000 people statewide have been “exhausting” state and federal benefits each month since August, Markham said. This is a number which could skew unemployment data, making the rate appear lower than it actually is.
“Our analysis is real cut and dry,” Markham said, adding that the underemployed — those who work part-time, but too many hours to qualify for benefits — may not be factored into the data as well.
When the economy first took a dive last year, a large number of “younger males” in the construction industry were filing for benefits, Markham said. Now, the Workforce Development Division is at a point where job losses are spread across all industries and people.
The trade, transportation and utilities sector contracted by the greatest number of jobs last month, with 900 individuals filing for unemployment statewide, according to a DOL press release Wednesday. Construction closely followed suit at a loss of 700 jobs. Since September 2008, about 5,500 jobs have been lost in the construction industry.
Only 100 jobs within the federal government in Hawai‘i were lost last month and a “modest” 200 receded in the leisure and hospitality sector, the release says.
When asked if unemployment rates have an economic impact on the county, Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s Executive Assistant Beth Tokioka said there are no “direct” effects.
However, “there could be some indirect impacts, most notably possible delinquencies in county revenue collections for property taxes (79 percent of our general funds), sewer fees and public service taxes,” she wrote in an e-mail Wednesday.
Kaua‘i is not the only county which could incur declines in tax revenue, as the U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent in September — a 26-year high — and 23 states reported increased unemployment even though “layoffs have slowed,” an Associated Press article states.
For more information, visit www.hiwi.org.
• Coco Zickos, business and environmental writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com.
