Unemployment rate in Maui metro area highest in the nation at 35%

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - The unemployment rate in the population centers that include Kahului, Wailuku and Lahaina was 35% in April, the highest for any metropolitan area in the nation, according to a newly-released analysis from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That’s up 32.5 percentage points from a year earlier.

The analysis was released as officials brace for the US unemployment rate to continue to grow, catching up to layoffs that happened in recent weeks. Some fear it could hit 20%.

At just over 22%, Hawaii’s unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation.

But the pain of the state’s tourism shutdown has been felt hardest on the Neighbor Islands, In urban Honolulu, the unemployment rate in April was 20%.

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