The state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations announced Thursday (Sept. 20) that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August was 6.1 percent, down from the revised rate of 6.3 percent in July.

Press release:

The last time Hawaii had an unemployment rate as low as 6.1% was in January 2009, during the early stages of the great recession. Statewide, there were 601,350 employed and 38,900 unemployed in August, for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 640,250.  Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.1 percent, a 0.2 percentage decline from 8.3 percent in July.