Hawaii jobless rate remains steady at 2.8% By Dave Segal

Hawaii’s unemployment rate continues to flatline.

The seasonally adjusted measure held at 2.8% in June for the fourth month in a row while the state’s labor force continued to shrink, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

“The economy is not getting worse, and it’s not getting better. It is flat,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. “This indicates that the labor market is stable. Although we are declining in the (labor force and employment) indicators, we are still among the top five lowest states in the nation for unemployment rate.”

Hawaii’s labor force, which includes those who are employed, those who are unemployed but actively seeking work and those who are self- employed, fell for the sixth month in a row to 665,200 last month from 667,800 in May. It was the lowest number in the labor force since there were 664,619 in May 2014. Labor force data is compiled from a telephone survey of households.

Those employed also declined for the sixth straight month in falling to 646,550 from 648,850. It was the fewest people employed since 645,625 in March 2015.

“There are usually two factors when the labor force decreases,” Tian said. “One is people give up looking for jobs, and the second is people moving out of the state.”

The number of people unemployed dropped to 18,650 from 18,950.

Nonfarm payroll jobs, which are calculated from a mail survey of employers, edged up by 300 in June from the previous month. The largest gain was in professional and business serv­ices, which added 400 positions. The largest drop was in education and health services where jobs decreased by 600.

The unemployment rate rose in all four of the state’s major counties. State and national labor force data is adjusted for seasonal factors, but the county jobs data is not seasonally adjusted and thus does not take into account variations such as the winter holiday and summer vacation seasons.

Honolulu County’s rate increased to 3.1% from 2.5%, Hawaii County’s rate rose to 4.1% from 3.4%, Kauai County’s rate increased to 3.1% from 2.5% and Maui County’s rate rose to 3.1% from 2.5%. Within Maui County, Maui’s rate rose to 3.1% from 2.5%, Molokai’s rate increased to 7.4% from 5.3% and Lanai’s rate inched up to 1% from 0.9%.