Maui County Unemployment Drops to 4.2% in August

Maui County’s unemployment rate fell to 4.2% in August. Maui Now graphic by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

Maui County’s unemployment rate for August improved to 4.2%, down from the seasonally adjusted 4.7% rate reported a month earlier, and also down from the 5% rate recorded at the same time last year, according to new information released by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Unemployment rates in Maui County dropped on Maui and Lānaʻi from month before levels, with Lānaʻi bringing in the most impressive rate of 2.4%, the lowest in the state–down from the 2.7% rate recorded a month before, and the 3.2% rate recorded at the same time last year.

The Island of Maui in Maui County recorded a 4% unemployment rate in August 2014, down from the 4.5% rate recorded in July, and down from the 4.8% rate reported in August of last year.

Molokaʻi continued to have the state’s highest unemployment rate of 14.1%–up from the 12% rate in July, and the 10.5% 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 dropped slightly to 4.3% in August, after a fourth consecutive months of a steady 4.4% rate.

The department reports major industry employment gains in several areas including job expansion of: 500 jobs in Consstruction; 300 jobs in Trade, Transportation and Utilities; 100 jobs in Professional and Business Services; and 100 jobs in Manufacturing.

Job losses were reported in several sectors including: -800 jobs in Educational and Health Services; -300 jobs in Leisure and Hospitality; and -200 in Financial Activities.

According to the new data, there were 634,150 employed and 28,600  unemployed individuals in the state in August, which combines for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 662,700.