Hawai'i jobless rate up slightly

By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer

January's unemployment rate, not seasonally adjusted, was 3.7 percent statewide, up slightly from a revised 3.6 percent in December, according to a survey released yesterday by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

However, the January 2003 rate remained lower than the 4.9 percent rate posted in January 2002 when the state was still suffering from a drop in tourism following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Leroy Laney, an economics and finance professor at Hawai'i Pacific University and chief economic consultant to First Hawaiian Bank, said the January rate is "not a bad number, but it might be artificially low."

"What we think is happening is that some people are dropping out of the labor force," he said.

A jobless rate of 5 percent or lower is generally considered full employment; that is, those looking for jobs are already employed. But the state's unemployment figure only accounts for those actively seeking work and on unemployment insurance. It does not count those who are out of work and are not looking for jobs because, for example, they become discouraged or return to school.

January's jobless rate was affected in large part by seasonal layoffs in the retail and wholesale trade sectors of the economy. Government jobs also declined because of post-holiday cuts in the Postal Service and military exchanges, the Labor Department reported.

During January, Moloka'i's jobless rate remained the highest in the state at 7.6 percent, though that figure only increased marginally from 7.5 percent the previous month.

Unemployment in Honolulu, the state's largest labor market, also rose slightly to 3.4 percent, from 3.3 percent in January, while the Big Island rate rose to 5 percent from 4.8 percent.

Kaua'i's jobless rate was down to 4.6 percent from 4.9 percent in December. Maui's rate dropped to 3.7 percent from 3.8 percent in December.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.