Hawaii Unemployment Rate Falls to 5.7%

A sharp drop in unemployment for Hawaii is a 21 month low at 5.7%. It appears Hawaii is making good progress in recovering from the pandemic as businesses are backed up and lines for restaurants and other attractions demand attention. The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate had spiked to a wopping 21.9 %, declined for the 11th straight month and dropped below 6 % for the first time since hitting 2.1 % in March 2020 when COVID-19 was in its infancy, according to data released Monday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The rate in November was 6.0 %.

Decembers numbers were 610,350 employed individuals or self employed. Unemployed numbers were closer to 37K, which was the lowest numbers since March of 2020.