MEDIA RELEASE

The state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations has announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July was 6.4 percent, unchanged from June.

Statewide, there were 603,150 employed and 40,950 unemployed in July, for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 644,050.

The establishment survey, which does not include agriculture and the self-employed, reported that total seasonally adjusted nonagricultural jobs increased by 2,800 jobs in July over June, and by 6,200 jobs over-the-year.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.3 percent, a 0.1 percentage increase from 8.2 percent in June.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits were down 7.3% and total weeks claimed were down 9.8% compared to one year ago. Initial claims and weeks claimed decreased by 3% and 1% between June and July, respectively.

The unemployment rate figures for the State of Hawaii 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 declined to 6.4 percent in July from 7.1 percent in June.

Within industry sectors, July over June employment gains were experienced in Professional & Business Services (+1,600), Construction (+800), Manufacturing (+400), and Trade, Transportation, & Utilities (+300).

Jobs in Other Services and Educational & Health Services remained unchanged. Over-the-month job losses occurred in Financial Activities (-100), Leisure & Hospitality (-100), and Government (-400).

The expansion in Professional & Business Services was broad-based, as outside of significant hiring in employment services, there was notable job growth in firms engaged in marketing research & polling, engineering services, computer systems designs, and offices of lawyers.

The uptick in construction was particularly concentrated in electrical contractors and structural steel and precast concrete contractors. Gains in manufacturing jobs were seen in ship building and repairing, largely due to the RIMPAC naval exercises.

Over-the-year, the industries with the largest job gains were Leisure & Hospitality (+4,600), Trade, Transportation, & Utilities (+2,700), and Professional & Business Services (+1,700).