Maui County Unemployment Rises; State Remains The Same

By Sonia Isotov

Unemployment in Maui County rose 1/2 percent between January 2011 and December 2010 to 7.9 percent, according to non-seasonally adjusted unemployment numbers announced today by the Hawaii State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR).

On the other hand, Maui County unemployment is down one percent from a year ago January 2010 when the unemployment rate was 8.9%., and still lower than the national average of 9.0 percent for the same time period.

For the entire state of Hawaii, DLIR reported that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January remains at 6.3 percent; unchanged from December 2010.  This is still lower than the 6.6 percent unemployment rate in 2010 and 6.8 percent in 2009.

The Hawaii unemployment rate is also still lower than the national unemployment rate of 9.0 percent, which was down from 9.4 percent in December 2010 and 9.7 percent in January 2010.

Molokai and Lanai non-seasonally adjusted unemployment are 12 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively, for January 2011. Down from 12.7 for Molokai and 6.0 for Lanai for December 2010, and compared to 15.5 percent for Molokai and 8.7 percent for Lanai for a year ago January 2010.