Jobless claims appear to be easing
Advertiser Staff and News Services
The state's unemployment claims seem to finally be slowing down, but are still higher than average, said state officials.
Last week, 3,294 residents filed for unemployment benefits, 1,120 fewer than the week before. The state normally averages 1,400 unemployment claims per week.
"It is slowing down, which leads us to believe that employers are probably not laying off as much as before," said state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations spokesman Tom Jackson.
A total of 12,351 claims have been filed between Sept. 17 and Oct. 9. About 5,300 of those were filed in the last week of September, which is a 400 percent jump from the same week in 2000.
Jackson said most of the claims are related to tourism or the retail industry.
The record number of claims has been caused by the economic slowdown in Hawai'i since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that lead to a dramatic dropoff in the state's $11 billion tourism industry as more people eschewed flying. But yesterday, the major airlines' trade group said fliers have begun increasing, with 7 million passengers boarding U.S. airliners last week, the most since the attacks.
The trade group said that during the first week of October, air travel fell by more than a quarter compared with the same period in 2000, but was substantially higher than the previous week.
"It's a gradual return to business as usual," said Michael Wascom, spokes-man for the Air Transport Association.
The week before the attacks, U.S. airlines carried 9 million passengers, a slight increase from 2000. The entire air fleet was grounded for two days while airports and airlines improved security after the four terrorist hijackings.
The first full week after flights resumed, 5 million passengers flew, only half of the number during the same period in 2000. Six million passengers flew the following week.
Airlines have reduced flights and laid off more than 100,000 employees to compensate for the loss in business.
President Bush signed legislation last month giving $15 billion in grants and loan guarantees for the industry.
