WAILUKU - Maui County's unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in May, down nearly a full percentage point from the same month last year.
The county's unemployment figure is up 0.3 percentage points from April's 6.4 percent. The figures for county data were not seasonally adjusted, in the report from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations released Thursday.
Statewide, the unemployment rate stood at 6.3 percent in May, down 0.2 percentage points from the same month in 2011. In April, the state's unemployment rate was 6 percent. This data also was not seasonally adjusted.
Maui island's unemployment figures were only slightly different than the county as a whole - 6.6 percent in May, 7.6 percent in May 2011 and 6.3 percent in April.
Molokai's unemployment was 12.6 percent in May - the highest in the state by far - and more than a full percentage point higher than its 11.4 percent rate in May 2011. In April, Molokai's unemployment figure was a little lower than last month, 12.4 percent.
Lanai had the state's lowest unemployment figure in May at 2.6 percent, down almost half from the 5 percent reported in the same month last year. In April, Lanai had 2.9 percent unemployment.
Statewide, there were 612,550 people employed and 41,400 unemployed, the state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations reported. These figures gave the state a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.3 percent.
Statewide initial claims for unemployment benefits fell 16 percent compared with a year earlier. Total weeks claimed were down 10 percent.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in May, up from 8.1 percent in April.
