Hawaii unemployment rate

Hawaii's unemployment rate dropped significantly since the start of the coronavirus pandemic but was still tied for third-worst in the nation in August.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday the state's 12.5% seasonally adjusted jobless rate was tied with New York for third-highest in the nation last month. Nevada had the worst rate at 13.2%, while Rhode Island came in second with 12.8%.

The pandemic and measures to control the spread of the virus have forced the shutdown of hundreds of hotels in Hawaii. 

Hawaii's jobless rate improved from 13.5% in July and a peak of 23.8% hit in April.

Hawaii led the nation in how dramatically the jobless rate increased compared to August last year. The state's unemployment rate jumped 9.8 percentage points over a year ago. Nevada was second with a 9.4 percentage-point gain.

The nation's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.4 percent in August, down from 10.2 percent in July.

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said 557,200 were employed and 79,700 were unemployed in August statewide. The seasonally adjusted labor force stood at 636,900.

More than 124,000 people filed for weekly unemployment claims Sept. 6-12.

The department said last week that 186,660 valid claims still require DLIR action. The state is planning to hire a call center operator to help resolve the thousands of pending cases. The call center, however, is not expected to be in operation for several weeks.

Applicants have complained for months that they have been unable to reach the department to resolve their cases and receive their benefits.

Those eligible to receive an additional federal $300 Plus-Up benefit under the Lost Wages Assistance program have until today to self-certify that their unemployment was due to COVID-19 disruptions. 

More information is available on the state DLIR website.

HPR News Staff contributed to this report.

Hawaii and Nevada have the highest unemployment rates in October 2020

November 27, 2020

Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate increases from October 2019 to October 2020, the largest of which occurred in Hawaii (+11.6 percentage points) and Nevada (+8.3 points).

Hawaii had the highest unemployment rate in October, 14.3 percent, followed by Nevada, 12.0 percent. Nebraska and Vermont had the lowest rates, 3.0 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively. In total, 26 states had jobless rates lower than the U.S. figure of 6.9 percent, 9 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates, and 15 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see "State Employment and Unemployment — October 2020." Also see more charts and maps on state employment and unemployment.

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HONOLULU (KHON2) — Hawaii’s unemployment rate for June stood at 7.7%, a decrease from the 8% reported in the month prior.

Statewide, a total of 596,500 Hawaii residents were employed and 49,750 were unemployed in the month of June. Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.9% in June, up from 5.8% that was reported in May.

Jobs such as leisure and hospitality, construction, information, trade, transportation and utilities saw an increase in employment while manufacturing, financial activity, professional and business services, education and health services saw a decrease.

The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) says seasonal fluctuations in the number of employed and unemployed people are factored in when considering the overall percentage and can serve as a reflection of hiring and layoff patterns that accompany regular events such as the winter holiday season and the summer vacation season.

“These variations make it difficult to tell whether month-to-month changes in employment and unemployment are due to normal seasonal patterns or to changing economic conditions,” said DBEDT.

To combat this, the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics uses a technique called seasonal adjustment to examine how accurate the unemployment rate really is.

A seasonal adjustment factor will consider the history of the labor force data and the job count data, then develop and apply estimates to eliminate the effects of regular seasonal fluctuations on the data.

Overall, jobs in Hawaii increased by 41,900 since approximately the same time last year.