Unemployment
dipped in July

But the isles' job losses continued

Star-Bulletin staff

Hawaii's unemployment rate declined in July, but the state continued to lose jobs.

The jobless rate last month edged down to 6.5 percent, compared with 6.6 percent the previous month and 6.7 in July, 1996, according to statistics released yesterday by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

But the job count fell 5,600 to 524,600 in July. The drop came mainly from the education and social services sectors, and most of that decline was due to the state Department of Education releasing non-teaching and limited-term workers, the labor agency said.

Restaurants and bars accounted for 200 fewer jobs in July, the third straight month of declines, the agency said.

But on the upside, construction -- the industry hardest hit by the state's economic downturn -- improved for the second straight month, with 200 more jobs last month.

Construction of a Continental Airlines' maintenance hangar added 200 jobs to the air transportation sector, while seasonal harvesting accounted for a similar increase in food processing businesses, the department said.

Hawaii's jobless rate still is well above the national figure of 5.0 percent.