Despite the loss of nearly 2,100 jobs when Aloha and ATA airlines abruptly shut down, Hawai'i's unemployment rate rose just slightly to 3.3 percent in April, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

April's seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 0.2 of a percentage point higher than March and 0.8 of a percentage point more than a year earlier. Still, the rate was lower than what had been projected by the state in the days following the closure of the two airlines.

The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism had projected that the state's unemployment rate could reach a four-year high of 3.9 percent as a result of the job losses relating to Aloha and ATA. The estimate appeared to be on track as unemployment compensation filings in the week ending April 5 jumped 133 percent from the same period last year.

Although April's jobless rate was lower than anticipated, the labor department cautioned that the full impact of the airlines' layoffs may not be felt for another few months.

"At this point we're all sort of speculating and that's why we always caution: Let's see how the numbers play out a couple of months from now because that's going to give us a truer picture," said labor spokesman James Hardway.

"In Hawai'i, people who are on unemployment usually are off of it in 14 weeks. If that trend holds up, then perhaps those who got unemployed through Aloha and ATA are finding jobs within that 14 weeks simply because they're most likely to have the higher skills that new employers are looking for," he said.

In April, there were 641,000 employed in Hawai'i and 21,800 unemployed for a labor force of 662,800. A year earlier, there were 633,800 employed, 16,150 unemployed for a labor force of 649,950, according to the state.

The state's 3.3 percent unemployment rate is the highest since April 2004 when it was 3.4 percent. Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 5 percent, a slight decline from 5.1 percent in March.

In another measure of employment, the state reported that seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll jobs fell by 6,100 in April to 624,000.