Maui Unemployment Rate Down to 5.3%

File photo.

By Sonia Isotov

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March for Maui declined to 5.3%, from 5.5% in February, according to statistics released by the Hawaii State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations (DLIR) today.

The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Maui declined from one year ago when the rate was 6.8%.

In Maui County, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March declined to 5.7%, from 6.0% in February, and 6.8% in March of last year.

Statewide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March declined to 5.1%, from 5.2% in February, and 6.2% one year ago in March 2012.

Statewide, there were 614,100 employed and 33,300 unemployed in March, for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 647,400. Figures show that jobs expanded by 9,400 statewide over the year.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.6%% in March, compared to 7.7% in February, and 8.2% one year ago in March 2012.

The unemployment rate figures for the State of Hawaii and the US in this release are seasonally adjusted, in accordance with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology. The seasonal fluctuations in the number of employed and unemployed persons reflect hiring (and layoffs) patterns that accompany regular events such as the winter holiday season and the summer vacation season.

To deal with these variations, a statistical technique called seasonal adjustment is used. This technique uses the past history of the series to identify the seasonal movements and to calculate the size and direction of these movements. When a statistical series has been seasonally adjusted, data for any month can be more meaningfully compared with data from any other month or with an annual average, according to the DLIR.