February Unemployment Rate Remains Steady

The Hawai’i State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations has announced that February’s statewide unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent, the same as January.

Officials said on Wednesday that throughout the state, 647,000 individuals were employed in February and 27,900 were not. These numbers make up a total seasonally adjusted labor force number of 674,900.

The nationwide unemployment rate in February was 5.5 percent, down two points from 5.7 percent in January.

Initial unemployment claims have decreased by about 20.5 percent and weeks claimed have also decreased by 20.5 percent, compared to the same time a year ago. Over the month of February, both initial claims and weeks claimed decreased since January. Initial claims decreased by 21 percent while weeks claimed decreased by 9.1 percent.

The figures above represent seasonally adjusted unemployment rate figures.

According to the DLIR, non-farm jobs decreased by 1,200 over the month. Other major industry sectors appeared to show stability, with no change in jobs in the month of February in manufacturing, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and other services.

Small declines were seen in some sectors, including construction (-200), financial activities (-200), and trade, transportation, and utilities (-400).

Professional and business services (-1,000) also saw a decrease. The DLIR attributed the loss to temporary help services and professional employer organizations that were concentrated in the administrative and support sub-sector.

As compared to one year ago, an expansion of 7,200 non-agricultural jobs has been reported.