Maui County Unemployment 4.7% in May

Maui County’s unemployment rate fell to 4.7% in May. Maui Now graphic.

By Wendy Osher

Maui County’s unemployment rate for May was 4.7%, up from the 4.6% reported a month earlier, and down from the 4.9% recorded at the same time last year, according to new information released by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The Island of Maui in Maui County recorded a slightly lower rate of 4.6% in May 2014, up from the 4.5% rate recorded in April, and down from the 4.8% rate reported in May of last year.

The Island of Lānaʻi continued to record the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 3.4%, up more than a percent from the 2.1% the month before, and from the 2.0% rate recorded at the same time last year.

Molokaʻi continued to have the state’s highest unemployment rate of 8.6%–down slightly from the 8.8% rate in April, and the 8.5% rate recorded at the same time last year.

The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations noted that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the state was 4.4% in April, unchanged from the month before, and down from the 4.7% rate recorded at the same time last year.

The department reports major industry employment gains in several areas including: +1,800 in the Professional & Business Services sector, +700 in Transportation and Utilities, and +500 in Construction.

Significant employment contraction occurred in the Educational and Health Services industry where -300 less people were employed; and in Leisure and Hospitality where there was an employment drop of 400, according to the report. The 800 less jobs in government was attributed to a shift in seasonal hiring at the Department of Education, the report stated.

According to the new data, there were 632,500 employed and 29,450  unemployed individuals in the state in May, which combines for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 661,900.