Hawaii layoffs touch every industry, income level

Friday, December 19, 2008 Modified: Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 12:00am

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - by Linda Chiem Pacific Business News
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On a recent Monday, Paula Hudnall strolled through the aisles of Macy’s in downtown Honolulu eyeing the neatly laid racks of clothing and accessories and enjoying the Christmas music and the chattering of holiday shoppers.

It was something she could rarely do working in mortgage banking, where there was always more to be done in the office.

Hudnall was the lead underwriting manager for the Honolulu office of Ohio-based mortgage lender National City Mortgage. When the company announced in 2007 it was cutting thousands of jobs, Hudnall, 55, oversaw the closure of the Honolulu branch and by March of this year, she was out of a job and a six-figure salary.

Today, she is working as a part-time sales associate at Macy’s for the holidays and has just finished her second semester at Hawaii Pacific University, where she plans to earn a master’s degree in communications.

“I always wanted to go to graduate school and nothing was blocking me anymore,” she said. “I learned quickly not to be afraid because fear just shuts you down. It’s been good actually and I was really happy for the time to rest even though closing that branch was really difficult for me.”
Hudnall is among the nearly 2 million workers who have lost their jobs in the U.S. this year, including 6,200 in Hawaii. There are now 30,000 jobless in the state, up from about 19,000 last year.

The layoffs and shutdowns of businesses have been widespread and have touched employees ranging from entry-level clerks to senior managers in virtually every industry.

The state’s unemployment rate hit a seven-year high of 4.5 percent in October.

“This was probably one of the most dismal periods in Hawaii’s economic history,” said Lawrence Boyd Jr., a labor economist with the Center for Labor Education and Research at the University of Hawaii West Oahu.

“Our unemployment figures are a bit disguised because so much of it is in these service industries where you don’t have big cuts, but drips and drabs.”

Unemployment claims are up 83 percent this year, rising from 7,478 in January to 13,693 in October, the latest period for which figures are available.

The largest monthly spike occurred in April — immediately after the shutdowns of Aloha Airlines, ATA Airlines and Molokai Ranch — with a 23 percent jump in unemployment claims.

A review of data from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations shows that the hardest-hit industries have been construction, which on average had more than 3,000 workers a month collecting unemployment for most of the year, and accommodations and food services, which had more than 2,000 workers collecting unemployment by October.

Administrative services, which includes office support staff, had 1,545 workers collecting unemployment by October. That’s nearly double the 807 administrative services workers who were collecting unemployment at the beginning of the year.

Sixty-three percent of workers collecting unemployment are men and 37 percent are women.

And most of the jobless are between the ages of 45 and 54, a group that accounts for 25 percent of all people collecting unemployment in Hawaii.
Earlier this month, the state extended unemployment benefits by another seven weeks for people who already have used up their allotted 26 weeks of regular unemployment benefits and 13 weeks of emergency compensation after that.

They can collect a maximum of $523 a week in unemployment but that will increase to $545 a week next year. The increased benefits will help, but the unemployed have to comply with a multitude of guidelines to continue receiving benefits such as showing that they are making at least three potential job contacts a week by sending out resumes or going on interviews.

Public relations accounts supervisor Carissa Tourtelot closed on a new condominium in Kailua only two weeks before she was laid off from Communications Pacific last month.

She was most worried about covering her $2,750 mortgage and the $600 she spends on day care for her 2-year-old daughter. She spent three weeks on unemployment, a process she described as demoralizing, and recently secured a new job as a communications and marketing consultant for the California Milk Advisory Board in San Francisco, the institution behind the popular “happy cows” television commercials.

“It was scary at first and I think that after the initial sadness you just focus on what’s next ... but thank God I had savings and a rainy day fund,” she said. “It’s worked out really well and people always say things happen for a reason. Even though I still don’t know the reason, I’m kind of okay and there’s really never a good time to lose your job but that’s the kicker, you figure it all out.”