Business Report: Did the floods and the lava affect unemployment?

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Every week, the state counts the number of NEW applications for unemployment. Island by island, we know precisely how many people have newly joined the jobless rolls.  Or do we?

These are the Kauai and Big Island new jobless claims numbers for the most recent weeks we have. Kauai has risen from 66 to 80 to 93 new claims.
The Big Island has risen from 258 to 259 to 365 new claims. But as Bruno Mars would say, "Wait a minute!" Oahu and Maui claims ALSO rose over these three weeks.

It may help to know that these claims are tallied by clerical staff, and whenever there is a federal or state holiday, they fall behind.
These figures cover a period that included Memorial Day and Kamehameha Day, when the people filing the claims would have been off. So some of this increase could be catching up on a claims backlog. We'll know more later.

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