HONOLULU - Hawaii's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent as jobless claims on Molokai soared.
The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said the statewide unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points in June from 3.6 percent the month earlier.
Molokai's nonseasonally adjusted jobless rate surged to 12.3 percent from 5.1 percent because of the shutdown of Molokai Ranch, the largest employer on the island, resulting in the loss of 120 jobs.
Labor Director Darwin Ching says he remains cautiously optimistic that Hawaii will be able to continue to show resiliency in creating jobs for those who were recently laid off in the private sector.
