A higher percentage of the Big Island labor force was without a job in January than the month prior, Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations data reveals. ADVERTISING A higher percentage of the Big Island labor force was without
A higher percentage of the Big Island labor force was without a job in January than the month prior, Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations data reveals.
Hawaii County’s unemployment rate notched up half a percentage point to 5.2 percent in January from 4.7 percent in December, according to the state-compiled data. That’s down from January 2014 when 6 percent of the island’s workforce was without work.
The island’s labor force in January comprised 86,450 people of whom 81,950 held jobs, according to preliminary statistics kept by the state. In December, 80,850 of the 84,850 people in the civilian labor force held jobs.
The Big Island, which has historically the highest unemployment rate among Hawaii’s four counties, wasn’t the only area in the state to see an increase in the percentage of its labor force out of work.
Honolulu and Kauai counties each saw unemployment increase by a half-percentage point to 4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively. Maui’s unemployment rate increased from 3.8 percent to 4.4 percent between the two months.
Statewide, the unemployment rate increased from 4 percent to 4.1 percent in January. In January, 27,450 people remained unemployed, up from 27,100 in December. In January, 646,100 people in Hawaii held jobs, according to the department.
Statewide, major job gains were reported in the trade, transportation and utilities sector where 1,900 jobs were added. Close behind were the leisure and hospitality, construction and professional and business services sectors, which added 1,200, 1,1000 and 1,000 jobs, respectively, according to the state.
Ranks were also increased in other sectors statewide, including the other services sector where 600 jobs were added, and the educational and health services and manufacturing sectors, which each saw 300 jobs added in January.
Hawaii County recorded 200 jobs added in both the construction and trade, transportation and utilities sectors in January over December, according to the department’s preliminary data sheets. Job expansion was also noted in the leisure and hospitality sector.
The increase in jobs in trade, transportation and utilities sector was primarily seen in retail areas and was attributed to a “smaller than typical drop off of holiday season workers,” the state said. Job expansion in the leisure and hospitality sector was concentrated in food service and drinking establishments while the jump in construction jobs was related to the construction of buildings.
January’s job expansion was also met with cuts. In the government sector, the number of people employed, primarily by the state, declined by 400, according to the department’s data.
Nationwide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in January, down a tidbit from 5.6 percent the month before, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s down from 6.6 percent in January 2014.
In February, the national unemployment rate decreased to 5.5 percent, the feds said.
The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations had not released February data for Hawaii as of Tuesday. A schedule posted on the department’s website said the data should be released today.
