Unemployment Rate Leveled Off Between Nov. and Dec. 2014

The Hawai’i State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations has announced that December’s statewide unemployment rate remained at 4 percent, the same as November.

Officials said on Friday that throughout the state, 644,750 individuals were employed in December and 26,850 were not. These numbers make up a total seasonally adjusted labor force number of 671,600.

The nationwide unemployment rate in December was 5.6 percent, down two points from 5.8 percent in November.

Initial unemployment claims have decreased by about 10 percent and weeks claimed have decreased by about 17 percent compared to the same time a year ago. However, over the month of December both initial claims and weeks claimed increase since November 2014. Initial claims increased by 13.6 percent while weeks claimed increased by 2.6 percent.

The figures above represent seasonally adjusted unemployment rate figures.

According to the DLIR, non-farm jobs increased by 200 in December. While other major industry sectors also showed growth in employment numbers, including trade, transportation, and utilities (+600), leisure and hospitality (+100), and other services (+100).

In addition to the employment gains, employment loss was seen in various other sectors, including construction, that experienced a loss of 600 jobs in December. Other areas that experienced employment loss include manufacturing (-200), professional and business services (-300), and education and health Services (-300).

Gains in government employment were made in December as the employment number rose by 800 jobs. The DLIR attributed the spike to seasonal hiring at the Department of Education and the University of Hawai’i system.

As compared to one year ago, an expansion of 9,000 non-agricultural jobs has been seen.