The Economy

Hawaii jobless rate improves slightly in April

The state of Hawaii’s unemployment rate dropped a bit to 6.9 percent in April, down from 7.1 percent in March but up 3.4 percentage points from a year ago, when the rate was 3.5 percent. 17,200 more people were out of work this year than last April, the U.S. Department of Labor said on May 22. Here are the highlights:

  • 646,200 people were in the work force and 44,400 people without jobs in April.
  • Kauai’s jobless rate more than tripled from 3.1 percent to 9.7 percent over the year.
  • Molokai had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 14.4 percent, up from 4.7 percent a year ago.
  • Maui County’s jobless rate jumped from 3.3 percent in April 2008 to 8.7 percent in April 2009.
  • The Big Island’s unemployment rate rose from 4.2 percent in 2008 to 9.7 percent.
  • Oahu had the state’s lowest rate at 5.7 percent but it was nearly double the rate from April 2008, when it was 2.9 percent.
  • Hawaii’s jobless rate is still below the national figure, which rose to 8.9 percent in April, up from 8.5 percent in March. California’s rate was 11 percent.

Hawaii had ten mass layoffs in April, up from five in March, resulting in 934 jobs lost for at least 31 days, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on May22. Last year in April, there were five mass layoffs that resulted in the loss of 1,583 jobs including those at Aloha and ATA Airlines and Molokai Ranch.

In the first quarter, Hawaii had 12 mass layoffs in the first quarter, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, which resulted in 1,103 workers losing their jobs for at least 31 days. Though there were more layoff events in 2009, more workers, 1,318, lost their job in the first quarter of 2008.

Mass layoffs are defined as 50 or more initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits from an employer during a five-week period. The latest count included layoffs at Maui Land & Pineapple, Castle & Cooke, Hawaii Superferry and several others.

Nationwide, there were 3,489 mass layoffs during the quarter affecting 558,909 workers. Both the number of mass layoffs and the number of jobs lost more than doubled from the first quarter of 2008.