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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 5:13 p.m., Friday, July 18, 2008

Molokai hit hard as state jobless rate rises to 3.8%

Associated Press

Hawai'i's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent as jobless claims on Moloka'i soared.

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations says the statewide unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points in June from 3.6 percent the month earlier.

Moloka'i's nonseasonally adjusted jobless rate surged to 12.3 percent from 5.1 percent because of the shutdown of Molokai Ranch, the largest employer on the island.

Labor Director Darwin Ching says he remains cautiously optimistic that Hawai'i will be able to continue to show resiliency in creating jobs for those who were recently laid off in the private sector.