The jobless rate for Hawaii Island appears to be continuing a slow downward march.
With an estimated 100 jobs added in the island’s construction sector during the past year, and the trade, transportation and utility sector adding another 400 positions, the situation on-island seems to reflect a generally brighter outlook statewide. The Big Island appears to be struggling in the tourism sector, however.
The county’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.9 percent in March, down from 6.1 percent the two months previous. Gains statewide of 900 leisure and hospitality jobs, 500 business and professional services jobs, and 200 health and educational services jobs offset declines in manufacturing, construction, trade, transportation and utility jobs, leading Hawaii to a 4.4 percent unemployment rate, down from 4.7 percent a year ago.
Gains in employment were seen in all counties.
“It’s all positive gains. We still have a problem with long-term unemployment, but I think that’s a structural issue that’s nationwide,” said Bill Kunstman, spokesman for the Hawaii State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
A total of 5,200 nonfarm jobs have been added in the past year, according to statistics from the department, which touted a record 658,450 employed in Hawaii’s labor force. Another 29,700 remained unemployed, down from 30,050 a month earlier.
Statewide figures show a fairly steady brightening of the employment picture, with the number of unemployed declining from a 6.1 percent rate in March 2012. The U.S. average stood at 6.7 percent in March and February.
The state’s educational and health services jobs stood at 79,200, up 600 jobs since last year. Leisure and hospitality, with 112,100 jobs, increased 3,200 jobs from a year ago. Government jobs increased to 126,000, up 900.
But Hawaii Island went in the opposite direction as the rest of the state in the leisure and hospitality sector, shedding some 300 jobs during the past year, according to survey-based data, Kunstman said.
The labor department projects that 26,880 jobs will be added statewide from the first quarter of last year to the first quarter of 2015, according to an employment forecast released last month. Service jobs, the largest sector, are expected to have the greatest number of openings, with 9,480 annually. All of the major employment sectors should see positive growth, according to the forecast.
The construction industry is expected to lead the recovery, with nearly 5,000 jobs in that period and an annual growth rate of 16.7 percent. Halfway through that projection period, current numbers are in line with the forecast, Kunstman said.
Laverne Omori, director of the Hawaii County Department of Research and Development said that increased construction costs point to an uptick in activity.
“We tend to see more people going back to work,” Omori said.