There were only 19,750 unemployed workers for the whole state in July, for a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.0 percent, according to the latest figures released by the Dept. of Labor and Industrial Relations. DLIR projects that the tax schedule for 2007 could move to schedule “B,” which means that the tax rate will go down for most employers and that more employers may end up at the zero tax rate. For more information on UI taxes, check out DLIR’s contribution rate chart and Handbook for Employers on Unemployment Insurance.

U.S. employers took 1,219 mass layoff actions (seasonally adjusted) in June, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each action involved at least 50 employees; the number of workers involved totaled 127,897 on a seasonally adjusted basis. The number of mass layoff events increased by 37 from the prior month, and the number of associated initial unemployment claims rose by 9,483. In June, Hawaii and Montana recorded the lowest unemployment rates, 2.4 percent each, followed by Idaho at 2.5 percent and Utah at 2.6 percent. No other state registered a rate below 3.0 percent, BLS says.

According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report, Hawaii again had the lowest unemployment rate (2.2 percent) of all the states in January. The U.S. average was 4.6 percent. Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Virginia were the next lowest in unemployment—all under 3 percent. Highest unemployment was in Michigan (6.9 percent), Alaska and South Carolina (6.4 percent each) and Mississippi (6.2 percent). See the BLS report on Regional and State Employment and Unemployment: January 2007.

Although Hawaii experienced the largest over-the-month percentage decline in December employment compared to other states, it still had the lowest jobless rate (2.0 percent) in the nation, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the full report, see Regional and State Employment and Unemployment: December 2006.

The unemployment rate among veterans who served in the U.S. military since September 2001 was 6.1 percent in 2007, compared to the 3.8 percent jobless rate of veterans from all other eras, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. About 17 percent of the Gulf War-era II veterans had service-connected disabilities in August 2007, compared to 12 percent of all other veterans, BLS says.

Young male veterans (ages 18-24) who served during Gulf War-era II had an unemployment rate of 11.2 percent in 2007, not statistically different from the rate of young male nonveterans (10.5 percent). Gulf War-era II veterans who were current or past members of the Reserve or National Guard were more likely to be employed—their unemployment rate was 2.6 percent compared to the 8.1 percent for those who were not in the Reserve or Guard.

Hawaii and Alaska posted the second largest over-the-month percentage declines in employment (-0.4 percent each) for October, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Arizona and Michigan had larger declines of -0.5 percent each. Hawaii, however, also recorded the second lowest rate of unemployment among the states at 2.7 percent for October. Idaho continued to have the lowest jobless rate of 2.5 percent. The national unemployment rate was 4.7 for the period.