29,500 jobless claims filed in county since mid-March

More than 29,500 initial unemployment claims were filed in Maui County in the four weeks from March 15 to April 11, 20 percent of the state’s total of 145,296 claims, the state Department of Industrial Relations reported.

For the weeks ending March 28 and April 4, when most of the island’s hotels began shuttering and furloughing workers due to the coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions, Maui County logged 10,933 and 10,394 initial jobless claims, respectively, for those weeks.

Last week, 5,996 initial claims were filed, the department reported. Back in late February, jobless claims were 113 a week.

At a County Council budget committee meeting Friday, two hotel officials reported furloughs of all but a few workers at Maui resorts that began shutting down in late March.

Rod Antone, executive director of the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association, said the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa in Kaanapali has mostly security people on, about 30 out of a total workforce of 700 people.

Andrew Rogers, general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, told the committee that 96 percent of his workforce has been furloughed.

Antone added that when resorts start to come back online they are projecting only 20 to 30 percent occupancy, meaning not all hotel workers will be returning.

There were a total of 24,600 workers in the leisure and hospitality sector for Maui County in January — 32 percent of the county labor force, the labor department reported. There were 12,200 workers in accommodations alone, 16 percent of the workforce.

Maui County is more heavily dependent on the visitor industry when compared to the state — 19.5 percent of the workforce is in leisure and hospitality and 6.6 percent in accommodations, during the same month in the labor department report.

Both Antone and Rogers advocated for Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino’s $3.5 million proposed funding for the Maui Visitors Bureau. That funding has come under fire in the council, and the county Cost of Government Commission has recommended no funding for the agency that promotes the island in the next fiscal year that begins July 1.

More than one-third of Hawaii’s labor force has filed unemployment claims, The Associated Press reported Thursday. The state labor department said Thursday that 244,330 claims have been filed since March 1. Hawaii’s labor force numbered about 660,000 for most of the past year.

Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.