KAILUA-KONA — Unemployment was down in February across the state’s four counties, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
During the 28-day month, the City and County of Honolulu and Hawaii, Maui and Kauai counties saw rates drop slightly, reducing the statewide unemployment rate to 2.7 percent, down from 2.9 percent in January. The rate is up from February 2018, however, when an estimated 2.2 percent was without work.
About 3.5 percent of Hawaii County’s 88,750-person workforce was without work during the second month of 2019, according to the department. The rate is down from 3.7 percent in January, but up from 2.9 percent in December 2018. In February 2018, unemployment stood at 2.5 percent.
But, those rates are still well below the percentage Hawaii Island notched a decade ago. In February 2009, 9.5 percent of the island’s workforce was without work amid the Great Recession.
Kauai County and the City and County of Honolulu also saw a 0.2 percent reduction in unemployment during February, posting rates of 2.8 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Maui County’s rate dropped just 0.1 percent from January to 2.8 percent in February.
Nationwide, unemployment dropped in February to 3.8 percent from 4 percent in January. Last February, 4.1 percent of Americans were out of work.
In Hawaii, job ranks increased in leisure and hospitality (1,400), trade, transportation and utilities (600), and other services (200). The bulk of the gain in leisure and hospitality occurred in food services and drinking places.
Job contraction was reported in construction (100), manufacturing (100) and health services (300).
Employment in information, financial activities and professional and business services remained stable.