| Hawaii Prosperity Reflected by Low Unemployment Rate - 01/24/2007
Unemployment fell below 2 percent in all four operating counties of Hawaii during December, state figures issued Wednesday show. A day after the U.S. Department of Labor reported Hawaii overall unemployment had fallen to 2 percent, the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations put out its even more astonishing island-by-island breakdown. The figures for December, not seasonally adjusted and therefore including seasonal retail hiring, with November in parentheses: Oahu: 1.6 percent (2.2 percent). Big Island: 1.9 percent (2.6 percent). Kauai: 1.5 percent (2.1 percent). Maui: 1.5 percent (2.1 percent). Molokai: 3.2 percent (6 percent). Lanai: 1.9 percent (1.4 percent). Maui County as a whole had 1.5 percent unemployment, down from 2.2 percent in November, when Maui, Molokai and Lanai are added together. The state estimates that there are about 650,000 people working in Hawaii, including farm workers, and about 10,500 out of work. These figures are not seasonally adjusted. Three sectors have more than 100,000 jobs: tourism, trade and government. The trade metric includes transportation and utilities. "Job creation in 2006 exceeded the amount of people entering the work force," said DLIR Director Nelson Befitel. He called it "a testament to the vibrancy of our local economy." DLIR said the release of temporary election workers produced a smaller job count in December by one of two measures, but the private sector gained about 1,300 jobs at the same time. This included about 500 more jobs in special trade construction and about 300 more jobs working in doctors' offices and social service programs.
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