Mail.com
HONOLULU (AP) — Are there downsides to a low unemployment rate? In Hawaii, which has the United States’ lowest jobless rate at a minuscule 2.1 percent, the answer is yes. Employers are frustrated by their inability to find workers. And unfilled jobs may be slowing the state’s economic growth.
A low unemployment rate is certainly better than a high one. And many employers are responding to the worker shortage by offering higher pay. Still, Hawaii’s experience serves as a cautionary tale for the nation as a whole: Low unemployment can mask underlying problems. Nationwide, the jobless rate is at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent, and economists forecast it could drop another half-point by next year. That would bring the rate to a half-century low. Continue reading “Hawaii’s low unemployment rate masks underlying problems”