HAWAII OCTOBER UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AT 2.9 PERCENT Jobs increased by 6,600 year-over-year

HAWAII OCTOBER UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AT 2.9 PERCENT
Jobs increased by 6,600 year-over-year
HONOLULU — The Hawaii State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism
(DBEDT) today announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October was 2.9
percent, compared to 2.8 percent in September. In October, 655,800 persons were employed and
19,400 were unemployed, for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 675,200 statewide.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.9 percent in October, up from 3.8
percent in September.
The unemployment rate figures for the State of Hawaii and the U.S. in this release are seasonally
adjusted, in accordance with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) methodology. The notseasonally adjusted rate for the state was 3.1 percent in October, compared to 3.3 percent in
September.
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
Oct21
Nov
-21
Dec
-21
Jan22
Feb
-22
Mar
-22
Apr22
May
-22
Jun22
Jul22
Aug
-22
Sep
-22
Oct22
Nov
-22
Dec
-22
Jan23
Feb
-23
Mar
-23
Apr23
May
-23
Jun23
Jul23
Aug
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Sep
-23
Oct23
Series1 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.3 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.3 3.1 3.0 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.9
Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate
State of Hawaii
October 2021- October 2023
State of Hawaii Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force Data**
Oct 2023 Sep 2023 Oct 2022*
Labor Force 675,200 675,650 679,950
Employment 655,800 656,450 654,700
Unemployment 19,400 19,200 25,250
* benchmarked data
OCT SEP OCT*
2023 2023 2022
Seasonally Adjusted
STATE 2.9 2.8 3.7
U. S. 3.9 3.8 3.7
Not Seasonally Adjusted
STATE 3.1 3.3 3.8
HONOLULU 2.5 2.6 3.8
HAWAII COUNTY 2.6 2.8 4.0
KAUAI 2.3 2.4 3.7
MAUI COUNTY 7.1 8.3 3.7
Maui Island 7.4 8.6 3.6
Molokai 1.5 1.5 7.9
Lanai 0.8 1.6 1.6
U. S. 3.6 3.6 3.4
county and island rates are not seasonally adjusted
* benchmarked data
Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey)
In a separate measure of employment, total nonagricultural jobs increased by 900 month-overmonth, from September 2023 to October 2023. Job gains were experienced in Private Education
& Health Services (+1,000); Professional & Business Services (+200); Manufacturing (+100); and
Information (+100). Within Private Education & Health Services, the most prominent subsector
expansion was in Social Assistance and Hospitals. Job losses occurred in Trade, Transportation
& Utilities (-100); Financial Activities (-100); Other Services (-100); Leisure & Hospitality (-200);
and Construction (-500). Government employment went up by 500 jobs, with a rise in all branches
(Federal, State, and Local). Year-over-year (October 2022 was the 31st month of pandemic
effects), nonfarm jobs have gone up by 6,600, or 1.1 percent. However, in comparison with March
2020 (the last month prior to pandemic effects), nonfarm jobs were down by 21,300, or -3.3
percent.
Seasonally Adjusted Non-Ag. Jobs (Statewide)
Oct-23 Sep-23 Oct-22
MINING, LOGGING & CONSTRUCTION 37,600 38,100 38,200
MANUFACTURING 12,900 12,800 12,700
Durable Goods 3,300 3,200 3,300
Non-Durable Goods 9,600 9,600 9,400
TRADE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES 115,700 115,800 115,800
Wholesale Trade 17,300 17,100 17,500
Retail Trade 64,800 65,000 65,300
Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities 33,600 33,700 33,000
INFORMATION 9,000 8,900 8,600
FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES 26,800 26,900 28,200
Finance & Insurance 14,800 14,800 15,700
Real Estate & Rental & Leasing 12,000 12,100 12,500
PROFESSIONAL & BUSINESS SERVICES 72,200 72,000 71,200
Professional, Scientific, Tech Svcs 27,300 27,100 26,500
Management of Companies & Enterprises 8,800 8,700 8,700
Administrative & Support & Waste Mgmt 36,100 36,200 36,000
PRIVATE EDUCATION & HEALTH SERVICES 89,300 88,300 87,000
Private Educational Services 15,400 15,200 14,400
Health Care & Social Assistance 73,900 73,100 72,600
LEISURE & HOSPITALITY 119,100 119,300 118,000
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation 12,600 12,600 12,600
Accommodation & Food Services 106,500 106,700 105,400
OTHER SERVICES 26,800 26,900 26,400
GOVERNMENT 124,500 124,000 121,200
Federal Government 35,300 35,200 34,900
State Government 70,300 70,000 67,900
Local Government 18,900 18,800 18,400
TOTAL: STATEWIDE 633,900 633,000 627,300
TOTAL: HONOLULU MSA 457,500 456,800 451,000
TOTAL: KAHULUI-WAILUKU-LAHAINA MSA 73,100 71,800 75,500
610,000
615,000
620,000
625,000
630,000
635,000
640,000
645,000
650,000
Oct-22
Jan-23
Apr-23
Jul-23
Oct-23
State of Hawaii
Seasonally Adjusted Non-Ag. Jobs (Statewide)
Technical Notes:
Labor Force Components
The concepts and definitions used by the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program
are the same as those used in the Current Population Survey for the national labor force data:
• Civilian labor force. Included are all persons in the civilian noninstitutional population ages
16 and older classified as either employed or unemployed. (See the definitions below.)
• Employed persons. These are all persons who, during the reference week (the week
including the 12th day of the month), (a) did any work as paid employees, worked in their
own business or profession or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid
workers in an enterprise operated by a member of their family, or (b) were not working but
who had jobs from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, bad
weather, childcare problems, maternity or paternity leave, labor-management dispute, job
training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time off
or were seeking other jobs. Each employed person is counted only once, even if he or she
holds more than one job.
• Unemployed persons. Included are all persons who had no employment during the
reference week, were available for work, except for temporary illness, and had made
specific efforts to find employment sometime during the four-week period ending with the
reference week. Persons who were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had
been laid off need not have been looking for work to be classified as unemployed.
• Unemployment rate. The unemployed percent of the civilian labor force [i.e., 100 times
(unemployed/civilian labor force)].
Seasonal Adjustment
The seasonal fluctuations in the number of employed and unemployed persons reflect 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. Therefore, the BLS uses a statistical technique called seasonal adjustment to address
these issues. This technique uses the history of the labor force data and the job count data to
identify the seasonal movements and to calculate the size and direction of these movements. A
seasonal adjustment factor is then developed and applied to the estimates to eliminate the effects
of regular seasonal fluctuations on the data. Seasonally adjusted statistical series enable more
meaningful data comparisons between months or with an annual average.
Current Population (Household) Survey (CPS)
A survey conducted for employment status in the week that includes the 12th day of each month
generates the unemployment rate statistics, which is a separate survey from the Establishment
Survey that yields the industry job counts. The CPS survey contacts approximately 1,000
households in Hawaii to determine an individual’s current employment status. Employed persons
consist of 1) all persons who did any work for pay or profit during the survey reference week, 2) all
persons who did at least 15 hours of unpaid work in a family-owned enterprise operated by
someone in their household, and 3) all persons who were temporarily absent from their regular
jobs, whether they were paid or not. Persons considered unemployed are those that do not have
a job, have actively looked for work in the prior four weeks and are available for work. Temporarily
laid-off workers are counted as unemployed, whether they have engaged in a specific job-seeking
activity. Persons not in the labor force are those who are not classified as employed or
unemployed during the survey reference week.
Benchmark Changes to Local Area Unemployment Statistics Data
Statewide and substate data for 2010 to 2022 have revised inputs and have been re-estimated to
reflect revised population controls and model re-estimation.
Change to Monthly Employment Estimates
This release incorporates revised job count figures for the seasonally adjusted series. The revised
data reflects historical corrections applied to unadjusted supersector or sector-level series dating
back from 1990 through 2022. For years, analysts with the State of Hawaii Department of Labor
and Industrial Relations’ Research and Statistics Office have developed monthly employment
estimates for Hawaii and its metropolitan areas. These estimates were based on a monthly survey
of Hawaii businesses and analysts’ knowledge about our local economies. Beginning with the
production of preliminary estimates for March 2011, responsibility for the production of state and
metropolitan area (MSA) estimates were transitioned from individual state agencies to the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
For Hawaii, this means the transition of statewide, Honolulu and Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina MSA
estimates for both the seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted areas are produced by
BLS. State agencies will continue to provide the BLS with information on local events that may
affect the estimates, such as strikes or large layoffs/hiring at businesses not covered by the
survey and to disseminate and analyze the Current Employment Statistics (CES) estimates for
local data users. BLS feels this change is designed to improve the cost efficiency of the CES
program and to reduce the potential bias in state and area estimates. A portion of the cost savings
generated by this change is slated to be directed toward raising survey response rates in future
years, which will decrease the level of statistical error in the CES estimates. Until then, state
analysts feel this change could result in increased month-to-month variability for the industry
employment numbers particularly for Hawaii’s counties and islands. BLS can be reached at (202)
691-6555 for any questions about these estimates.
The not-seasonally adjusted job estimates for Hawaii County, Kauai County, Maui, Molokai, and
Lanai are produced by the State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development, and
Tourism.
Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force and Unemployment Estimates for Honolulu and Maui
County
BLS publishes smoothed seasonally adjusted civilian labor force and unemployment estimates for
all metropolitan areas, which includes the City and County of Honolulu and Maui County.
BLS releases this data each month in the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment
news release. The schedule is available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.toc.htm.
Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization
Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States, Fourth Quarter of 2022 through
Third Quarter of 2023 averages
Area
Measure
U-1 U-2 U-3 U-4 U-5 U-6
United States 1.2 1.7 3.6 3.8 4.4 6.8
Hawaii 1.3 1.3 3.3 3.4 4.1 6.3
The six alternative labor underutilization state measures based on the Current Population Survey
(CPS) and compiled on a four-quarter moving average basis defined:
U-1, persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force;
U-2, job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor
force;
U-3, total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (this is the definition used for the
official unemployment rate);
U-4, total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus
discouraged workers;
U-5, total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers*, as
a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers; and
U-6, total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part-time for
economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.
*Individuals who want and are available for work, and who have looked for a job sometime in the
prior 12 months (or since the end of their last job if they held one within the past 12 months) but
were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the four weeks
preceding the survey, for such reasons as childcare or transportation problems, for example.
Discouraged workers are a subset of the marginally attached.
Please note that the state unemployment rates (U-3) that are shown are derived directly from the
CPS. As a result, these U-3 measures may differ from the official state unemployment rates for
the latest four-quarter period. The latter are estimates developed from statistical models that
incorporate CPS estimates, as well as input data from other sources, such as state
unemployment claims data.
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