Maui County Unemployment Rate at 2% in May

May 2018 Unemployment

The unemployment rate on Maui Island was at 1.9% in May, unchanged from the rate in April and down from the 2.5% reported at the same time last year.

Molokaʻi’s rate was 5.1% in May, up from the 4.8% rate the month before, and down the 5.8% rate reported at the same time in 2017. The island of Lānaʻi reported a 1.6% unemployment rate in May 2018, down from 2% in April, and down from the 2.9% reported in May of 2017.

The County of Maui as a whole had a 2% unemployment rate (non seasonally adjusted) for May 2018, unchanged from the 2% rate in April 2018, and down from the 2.6% rate at the same time last year.

The statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was 2%, the same as in April, when the statewide figures marked a historical lowest unemployment rate on record dating back to 1976, under current methodology according to DLIR executives.  The new data was compiled by the Hawaiʻi State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

In a separate measure of employment, the DLIR reoprts that there was a gain of 1,800 non-agricultural jobs over-the-month, with job expansion in Construction (+600), Professional & Business Services (+500), and Trade, Transportation, & Utilities (+400).   Job losses were reported in Manufacturing (-200) and Education & Health Services (-300).

The department reports that government employment went up by 600 jobs, “primarily due to seasonal variation in the Department of Education and the University of Hawaiʻi system.”