Categorized | Business

Hawaii unemployment at 6.1 percent for July

MEDIA RELEASE

The state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations has announced the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July was 6.1 percent, a 0.1 percentage point increase from 6.0 percent in June.

There were 594,000 employed and 38,400 unemployed in July, for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 632,400.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 9.1 percent in July from 9.2 percent in June.

The unemployment rate figures for the state and the U.S. in this release are seasonally adjusted, in accordance with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) methodology. The not seasonally adjusted rate for the State decreased to 6.4 percent in July from 6.8 percent in June.

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey)

In another measure of employment, total seasonally adjusted nonagricultural jobs increased by 6,700 jobs or +1.1 percent to 595,600 jobs from June to July.

Among major private industry groups, sizable job gains were experienced in Education & Health Services (+1,800), Trade, Transportation, & Utilities (+1,600), Leisure & Hospitality (+800), and Financial Activities (+700).

Employment also expanded slightly in Professional & Business Services (+200) and Other Services (+100).

Construction declined by 300 jobs over-the-month. Government jobs grew in July over June by 1,900.

In comparison with July 2010, total seasonally adjusted nonagricultural jobs have gone up by 9,900, or +1.7 percent, with the largest increases occurring in Education & Health Services (+4,100), Professional & Business Services (+2,800), and Leisure & Hospitality (+1,700). Over-the-year, employment in Government has contracted by 1,200 jobs.

* Education & Health Services (+1,800)
The primary source of job gains in this industry grouping came from private elementary and secondary schools. Other sectors that also contributed to the expansion were hospitals and social assistance.

* Trade, Transportation, & Utilities (+1,600)
A rise in trade jobs, mostly in retail but also in the wholesale sector, accounted for the growth of this industry grouping.

* Leisure & Hospitality (+800)
Employment gains in Food Services & Drinking Places, in particular Full-Service Restaurants, fueled the expansion in this industry. Secondarily, jobs in Accommodations also experienced an uptick.

* Financial Activities (+700)
Job growth was equally spread across the two major sectors of Finance & Insurance and Real Estate and Rental & Leasing.

* Professional & Business Services (+200)
This industry grouping increased slightly in July over June. Since January it has remained around the 74,000-level.

* Other Services (+100)
Over the past twelve months, this industry grouping composed of a wide range of miscellaneous services sectors has been very stable, showing little deviation from the 26,500-level.

* Construction (-300)
The relatively small job contraction in Construction was concentrated in Special Trade Construction, with pockets of job losses spread out over a wide spectrum of trade disciplines. After showing little change at the 28,000-level in the first quarter of 2011, by the middle of 2011, this industry has hovered around the 29,000 mark.

* Government (+1,900)
Noteworthy in this grouping was State Government, where seasonal employment drops in July over June were much less pronounced than typical for the period following steeper than normal seasonal job declines at the Department of Education in June over May.

The seasonal fluctuations in the number of employed and unemployed persons reflect hiring (and layoffs) patterns that accompany regular events such as the winter holiday season and the summer vacation season.

These variations make it difficult to tell whether month-to-month changes in employment and unemployment are due to normal seasonal patterns or to changing economic conditions. To deal with such problems, a statistical technique called seasonal adjustment is used.

This technique uses the past history of the series to identify the seasonal movements and to calculate the size and direction of these movements. A seasonal adjustment factor is then developed and applied to the estimates to eliminate the effects of regular seasonal fluctuations on the data.

When a statistical series has been seasonally adjusted, data for any month can be more meaningfully compared with data from any other month or with an annual average.

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