Hawaiʻi Unemployment Rate 3.0%, Lowest in 9 Years

Maui unemployment for November 2016.

Maui County’s 3.0% unemployment rate for November was down slightly from the 3.3% reported a month earlier, and the 3.5% reported at the same time last year.

The new data was released today by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Unemployment rates on the island of Maui decreased to 2.9%, and dropped significantly on Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi from month before levels.

Lānaʻi’s rate of 1.6% was down from the 4.1% rate recorded a month before, and down from the 4.4% rate recorded at the same time last year.

The Island of Maui in Maui County recorded a 2.9% unemployment rate in November 2016, down from the 3.1% rate recorded in October, and the 3.3% rate reported in November of last year.

Molokaʻi continued to have the state’s highest unemployment rate of 7.1%–down from the 10.1% rate in October, and the 8.9% rate recorded at the same time last year.

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations today announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November was 3.0%, compared to 3.2% in October. The last time Hawaiʻi’s unemployment rate was 3.0% was in October 2007.

Statewide, 676,200 were employed and 20,650 unemployed in November for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 696,850. Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.6% in November, compared to 4.9% in October.

The department reports industry employment gains in several areas including the following job expansions: +700 Professional & Business Services; +100 Manufacturing; and +100 in Construction.

Job losses were reported in several sectors including: -1,200in Leisure & Hospitality; -400 in Educational & Health Services; and -100 in Trade, Transportation, & Utilities.

The DLIR reports that employment in Government went up by 3,000 jobs, with the rise due to temporary workers hired for the general election.