The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the State Employment and Unemployment Summary today, and just like the national numbers for July, the numbers for Hawaii were an improvement over the past few months. Employers added 2,800 net jobs during the month, making up part of the 5,400 jobs lost during the previous two months. And Hawaii was one of the few states to see no increase in its unemployment rate (See Bill McBride’s analysis of the state by state numbers here).
From the BLS:
“Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed or slightly higher in July. Forty-four states recorded unemployment rate increases, two states and the District of Columbia posted rate decreases, and four states had no change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, four states experienced increases, and two had no change. The national jobless rate, at 8.3 percent, was essentially unchanged from June but 0.8 percentage point lower than in July 2011.”
Statewide the unemployment rate held steady at 6.4% despite a drop in he number of people reporting they were employed during the month. Employment fell by 4,700 persons, but the labor force fell by 5,200 leaving the unemployment rate unchanged from June and only .7 percentage points below its peak of 7.1%.
From the payroll survey, the detailed job counts are as you might expect except that the gains in leisure and hospitality earlier in the year have paused in the last two months. We saw an increase of 800 jobs in the beleagured Construction and Mining sector, and small gains in Manufacturing, Trade and Transportation and Utilities. Professional and Business Services saw the largest gains of 1,800 jobs.
Overall, the private sector added less than 3,200 jobs in July and government shed almost 400 jobs. For the first seven months of 2012, total non-farm jobs have grown by 1% compared to the same period last year, an increase of less than 6,000 jobs. And we are still more than 29,000 jobs shy of the peak job count in December 2007.
– Carl Bonham