The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April has increased slightly over the past month from 2.4% in March to now 2.5%.
Kaua‘i County’s unemployment rate sits slightly below the state average at 2.3%, according to a news release from the Hawai‘i State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Rates by county are not seasonally adjusted.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.3% in April, the same as in March.
In April, 671,050 persons were employed and 16,850 were unemployed, for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 687,900 statewide.
The unemployment rate figures for the state of Hawai‘i and the U.S. in this release are seasonally adjusted in accordance with U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology. The not-seasonally adjusted rate for the state was 2.5% in April, up from 2.3% in March.
In a separate measure of employment, total nonagricultural jobs increased by 1,700 month over month, from March 2026 to April 2026. Job gains were experienced in Private Education & Health Services (+700); Construction (+600); Other Services (+300); and Professional & Business Services (+200).
Within Private Education & Health Services, all subsectors of Health Services added jobs. Construction employment rebounded following the Kona Low storms in the prior month. Employment remained unchanged in Information.
Job losses occurred in Manufacturing (-100); Financial Activities (-100); Leisure & Hospitality (-100); and Trade, Transportation & Utilities (-200). Government employment went up by 400 jobs. Year over year, nonfarm jobs have gone up by 2,300, or 0.4%.
