State: Hawaii’s official jobless rate in April was 22.3%

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations today announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 22.3%.

The historic increase from the revised rate of 2.4 percent in March reflects the economic impact of COVID-19 in Hawaii. Statewide, 487,550 were employed and 139,900 unemployed in April for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 627,450.

In Hawaii County, the non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 24%. That’s 4% higher than the unemployment rate on Oahu, but significantly lower than the seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for Maui and Kauai counties, which were 35% and 34.4%, respectively.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 14.7 percent in April, rising from 4.4 percent in March.

These numbers don’t include self-employed or independent contractors who have found themselves without work because of the pandemic.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits increased by 13,900 or 1,173% compared to a year ago. Over-the-month initial claims also jumped by 1,250.5% as businesses shut down or reduced operations when the COVID-19 state of emergency mandated statewide closures and stay-at-home orders took effect.

The unemployment rate figures for the state and the U.S. are seasonally adjusted, in accordance with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology. The non-seasonally adjusted rate for the state was 23.5 percent in April, compared to the revised rate of 2.3 percent in March.