Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL HomeHawaii unemployment: 6.9% statewide, worse on neighbor islands
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii unemployment has risen one tenth to 6.9% in the newest monthly report from the state Department of Labor & industrial Relations. Actual rates are lower on Oahu, higher on other islands.
The 6.9% figure is seasonally adjusted. With the adjustment removed, actual employment for January was 7%. The difference is seasonal layoffs in the retail sector following Christmas, which the seasonal adjustment formula attempts to dial out.
Unadjusted joblessness was 6% on Oahu, up seven tenths from December; 8.8% in Maui County, up one tenth; 9.1% on Kauai, up four tenths; and 9.9% on the Big Island, up four tenths.
The Maui County figure represents slightly lower unemployment on Maui and Lanai, while Molokai unemployment soared more than three full percentage points to top 15%.
DLIR said 1,500 jobs disappeared from leisure and tourism, and another 600 jobs from professional and financial services, but there were 600 more jobs in construction as military contracts got under way.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps jobless statistics in several different kinds of measurements, one of which adds in people who are working part-time but would take full-time work if they could find it. The underutilized worker rate, including those people, is more than 15% in Hawaii and more than 16% nationwide.
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