“Fifty percent of the people who are trained in carpentry — who are well skilled and trained — are out of work for their union and into the sector of the unemployed.”

That’s what former city prosecutor Peter Carlisle said during a mayoral debate hosted by the Commercial Real Estate Development Association at the Honolulu Pacific Club on Thursday morning.

To check on Carlisle’s figure, Civil Beat called the Hawaii Carpenters Union and talked with spokesman Leonard Hoshijo.

“The numbers change slightly when new jobs come up but we are over 50 percent unemployed,” Hoshijo said.

Oahu, though, has been least affected by the recession.

The island Carlisle hopes to govern has a carpenter unemployment rate “in the low 40’s” and “the neighbor islands are quite a bit higher,” according to Hoshijo.

Carlisle used the carpenters as an example of how rail would help increase job opportunities on Oahu.

Hoshijo said that the project would certainly help but the main boost for carpenters would come from development around the rail stations.

“The bigger factor is the planned development around the rail over the long-term,” Hoshijo said. “It’s a rational planning vehicle that will allow density and trading values and will actually stimulate construction.”

Carlisle didn’t say he was talking about Honolulu. He’s right on for the state, and not too far off for Oahu.