June 2023 unemployment rate 3.1% in Maui County

The Hawai‘i State Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for June was 3%, compared to 3.1% in May. In June, 658,400 persons were employed and 20,300 were unemployed, for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 678,750 statewide. Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.6% in June, down from 3.7% in May.

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 3.3% in June, compared to 2.6% in May, according to DBEDT.

On Maui, the county rate increased to 3.1% in June, compared to 2.5% in May. Maui Island’s unemployment rate was 3.0% in June, up from 2.5% in May. The outer islands of Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi also saw increased rates of 7.0% and 2.0% respectively. Molokaʻi continues to have the state’s highest unemployment, while Lānaʻi has the lowest rate.

In a separate measure of employment, total nonagricultural jobs decreased by 1,500 month-over-month, from May 2023 to June 2023.

Job gains were experienced in Other Services (+300); Leisure & Hospitality (+200); Manufacturing (+100); Information (+100); and Private Education & Health Services (+100).

Job losses occurred in Trade, Transportation, & Utilities (-100); Financial Activities (-200); Construction (-300); and Professional & Business Services (-1,100).  Government employment went down by 600 jobs.  One-half of the decline in Government was in State Government, which had a slightly higher than seasonal average release of workers in the Department of Education, according to the state Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism.

Year-over-year (June 2022 was the 27th month of pandemic effects), nonfarm jobs have gone up by 16,700, or 2.7 percent. However, in comparison with March 2020 (the last month prior to pandemic effects), nonfarm jobs were down by 25,900, or -4.0 percent.