Hawaii joblessness dips to 6.7 percent, a 13-month low

Hawaii's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent in April, a 0.2 percent decline. This was the lowest jobless level since March 2009, when it was 6.6 percent. The state unemployment rate, which had held steady at 6.9 percent the first three months of this year, has been above 6 percent since January 2009 and has ranged from 6.8 percent to 7 percent for the past year.

There were 593,950 employed and 42,550 unemployed in April, for a labor force of 636,500, according to the statistics released May 21 by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 9.9 in April from 9.7 percent in March, according to data released earlier this month.

The outlook is getting better for job seekers, as evidenced by fewer job seekers and more employers showing up at the state's Workforce 2010 Job Fair at the Blaisdell Center on May 19. However, the unemployment rate is still high enough to discourage many.

Hawaii’s jobless claims plunged 19.5 percent for the week ending May 15, compared to the same week a year ago, according to statistics released May 20. There were 2,201 initial claims filed that week, compared to 2,735 claims filed the same time last year, according to the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Honolulu’s jobless rate remained unchanged at 5.6 percent in March, according to preliminary statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor. The rate was slightly up from 5.5 percent in March 2009. There were 25,100 people out of work in Honolulu in March, which was the same as the month before but slightly more than 24,500 people out of work in Honolulu a year ago.