Maui County had a 4.3% unemployment rate in March

Maui County’s unemployment rate in March was 4.3%, down from the 4.7% reported in February, and the 8% rate from March of 2021.

In Maui County

• Maui Island’s rate was 4.2% (down from 4.6% the month before, and down from the 8.2% reported in March of 2021);
• Molokaʻi had a 7.1% rate (unchanged from February, and up from 4.2% last year);
• Lānaʻi’s rate was 5.0% (down from 6.7% in February, and up from 3.1% in March 2021)

The data was compiled and released by the Hawaiʻi State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism today.

The DBEDT reports that that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March was 4.1%, compared to the revised rate of 4.2% in February.

Statewide, 644,900 were employed and 27,650 unemployed in March for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 672,600. Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.6% in March, down from 3.8% in February.

The unemployment rate figures for the State of Hawai‘i and the US are seasonally adjusted, in accordance with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology. The not seasonally adjusted rate for the State was 3.5% in March, compared to 3.8% in February.

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey)

In another measure of employment, total nonagricultural jobs decreased by 300 over-the-month.

Job gains occurred in Leisure & Hospitality (+400); Construction (+300); Other Services (+200); Professional & Business Services (+100); and Manufacturing (+100). 

Job losses occurred in Information (-100); Financial Activities (-100); Education & Health Services (-400); and Trade, Transportation, & Utilities (-800).

Within Trade, Transportation, & Utilities, about one-half of the decline was in the Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities subsector, with the balance evenly split between Retail Trade and Wholesale Trade.

Within Education & Health Services, the contraction was concentrated in the Health Care & Social Assistance subsector.  Government employment remained unchanged.

Over the year (March 2021 was the 12th month of pandemic effects), non-farm jobs have gone up by 35,700, or 6.3%. However, in comparison with March 2020 (last month prior to pandemic effects) non-farm jobs were down by 55,400, or -8.5%.