Hawaii is back near the top of the national rankings for low unemployment, yet the headline number comes with a catch. The state's jobless rate edged up to 2.4% in March, which technically puts the islands in the second-lowest spot in the country, just behind South Dakota and well under the national rate. Under the hood, though, employers shed about 1,200 nonfarm jobs from February to March, and construction took one of the biggest hits. State officials point to recent bad weather and normal sample swings as key drivers of the month-to-month wobble.
Statewide data and payroll shifts
According to DBEDT, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March was 2.4%, up a tick from 2.3% in February. The household survey counted 671,150 people employed and 16,200 unemployed, for a total labor force of 687,350.
The separate payroll survey in the same DBEDT release shows total nonfarm jobs slipping by about 1,200 over the month. Construction payrolls alone were down roughly 500 jobs. The agency noted that some of the drop can be traced to recent inclement weather, which can stall projects and temporarily sideline workers.
Where Hawaii stands nationally
The Bureau of Labor Statistics put South Dakota at the top of the March leaderboard with a 2.3% unemployment rate, followed by Hawaii at 2.4%. The national unemployment rate, by comparison, was 4.3%. In its summary, the BLS noted that state unemployment rates were "little changed" overall in March, which means even small shifts can shuffle states up or down the rankings from one month to the next.
Island-by-island picture
The county and island breakdown in the latest DBEDT tables shows Honolulu County at 2.2%, Kauai at 2.2%, Maui County at 2.5% (with Maui Island itself also at 2.5%), and Hawaii County at 2.7%. On the smaller islands, Lānaʻi came in at 3.7% and Molokaʻi at 1.9%.
Those local figures are not seasonally adjusted, a caveat DBEDT flags in the release, so month-to-month comparisons can be noisy. The full set of county and island numbers is available in the state tables from DBEDT.
What the low rate really means
Economists warn that a rock-bottom headline rate does not necessarily mean a perfectly tight labor market. When fewer people are looking for work, the official jobless figure can look healthier than conditions on the ground. Broader measures of slack often tell a different story for the islands.
Federal and state tables include alternative underemployment indicators that run higher than the standard U-3 unemployment rate. Analysts say those wider measures reflect weaker labor-force participation and demographic shifts in Hawaii, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Former DBEDT chief economist Eugene Tian told local reporters he expects Hawaii and South Dakota to keep swapping places near the top of the rankings as small sample changes roll through and new benchmarking is applied. The Garden Island covered the data release along with the early reaction from around the state.
