The Hawaii State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations announced Friday that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 5.2 percent, compared to the revised rate of 5.1 percent in December.

This was the first time since August 2011 that the state's unemployment rate ticked upwards.

Statewide, there were 618,350 employed and 33,850 unemployed in January, for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 652,200.  Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.9 percent, up from 7.8 percent in December.

Initial claims and weeks claims for unemployment benefits were both down by 110 claims or -5.1 percent and 3,159 claims or -21.0 percent, respectively compared to one year ago.

Between December 2012 and January 2013, initial claims and weeks claims increased by 18.6 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively.

The unemployment rate figures for the State of Hawaii and the U.S. are seasonally adjusted, in accordance with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology.  The not seasonally adjusted rate for the state increased to 5.4 percent in January from 4.8 percent in December.

Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rates (%)

Not Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rates (%)