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- Business
- Economic Analysis of Hawaii
-
- Economic Analysis of Hawaii
-
- Hawaii, with an area of 28,313 sq. km (10,932 sq. mi.), is the 43rd largest
- state in the U.S.; 6.9% of the land is owned by the federal government. It
- consists mainly of the Hawaiian Islands, eight main islands and 124 islets,
- reefs, and shoals. The major islands in order of size are Hawaii, Maui, Oahu,
- Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Nihau, and Kahoolawe. Population growth has increased
- by 80,000 persons over the past five years. Demographics show a large number
- of Hispanic origin: Asian Hispanics are the most populated with white Hispanic
- and Asian non-Hispanic following. Hawaii's economy has been long dominated by
- plantation agriculture and military spending. As agriculture has declined in
- importance, the economy has diversified to encompass a large tourist business
- and a growing manufacturing industry.
- Hawaii's economy has changed drastically since statehood. In 1958, defense,
- sugar, and pineapple were the primary economic activities, accounting for 40%
- of Gross State Product (GSP). In contrast, visitor-related expenditures stood
- at just over 4% of Hawaii's GSP prior to statehood. Today the positions are
- reversed; sugar and pineapple constitute about 1% of GSP, defense accounts for
- just under 11%, while visitor-related spending comes close to 24% of Hawaii's
- GSP.
- The movement toward a service- and trade-based economy becomes even more
- apparent when considering the distribution of Hawaii's jobs across sectors.
- The share of the economy's jobs accounted for by manufacturing and agriculture
- have declined steadily since 1959 and each currently makes up less than 4% of
- total jobs in the economy. At the same time, the shares of jobs in wholesale
- and retail trade and in services have risen, standing at about 23% and 28%,
- respectively.
- Since 1991, Hawaii's economy has suffered from rising rates of unemployment .
- This stands in marked contrast to the period 1980 to 1993, when the state
- enjoyed very low unemployment rates relative to the nation as a whole. But by
- 1994 the recession had raised Hawaii's unemployment rate to the national
- average (6.1%) for the first time in 15 years. In 1995, the state's
- unemployment rate improved slightly in the first eleven months of the year to
- 5.4 percent, a 0.6 percentage point decline from the first eleven months of
- 1994. Despite the lower unemployment rate, the total number of wage and salary
- jobs declined by 0.6 percent during the first eleven months of 1995. This was
- due in part to a fall in part-time jobs which are often held by persons who
- also have primary jobs elsewhere in the economy. The number of construction
- jobs declined by more than 7
- percent in the same period. Other industries--namely, manufacturing,
- agriculture,
- transportation, communications/utilities, and finance, insurance, and real
- estateexperienced declines in the number of jobs as well. Jobs in retail trade
- and services, however, increased 2.2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively,
- reflecting an increase in visitor spending since 1994.
- Following a dismal first quarter due to the Kobe earthquake, there was steady
- growth in the tourism sector in 1995 with increases in the number of visitor
- arrivals and hotel room rates. The number of visitor arrivals to the State
- increased 3.2 percent during the first eleven months of 1995. The increase in
- the value of the Japanese yen vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar during this period
- contributed to a rise in eastbound visitors in the second and third quarter of
- 1995 by 11.8 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively. However, in the first
- eleven months of 1995, the number of westbound visitors remained flat.
- This year is the 11th year in a row that the U.S. has experienced reduced
- spending on national defense. The continued reduction is due to the decline in
- superpower tensions and the political disintegration of the Soviet and East
- European-block during this decade which have prompted the Congress and
- Administration to initiate significant cuts in the level of defense
- expenditures in recent years. However, because of the strategic location of
- Hawaii in the Pacific this changing military posture has not significantly
- affected Hawaii's $3.7 billion Federal defense sector.
- The construction industry continued its decline in the first eleven months of
- 1995. This loss was mainly due to decreasing demand exacerbated by higher
- interest rates during the first half of 1995, following a 12.4 percent drop in
- 1994. Another reason is that construction costs rose by 15 percent from 1992
- to 1995, which is much higher than the consumer inflation rate of 8 percent
- during the same period.
- Agriculture jobs, including self-employed, showed a 6.6 percent decline in
- the first eleven months of 1995 from the same period in 1994. In the earlier
- part of the year, the agricultural work force fell to its lowest level in 21
- years. Agriculture accounts for slightly less than 2percent of jobs in the
- state.
- Latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis ranked Hawaii 26th among the
- 50 states in terms of growth in personal income between the first and second
- quarters of 1995. During the second quarter of 1995, personal income was
- estimated to be an annualized 29.2 billion dollars, up 4.0 percent at an
- annual rate from the second quarter of 1994. The growth in personal income is
- mainly attributed to an increase in rents, dividends and interest, along with
- transfer payments of 7.6 percent and 7.5 percent in the second quarter,
- respectively. The largest component of personal income, wages and salaries,
- increased by 2.3 percent over the period as compared to only 1.0 percent in
- 1994.
- The consumer inflation rate, as reflected in the percentage change of the
- Honolulu Consumer Price Index, increased by 2.1 percent between the first half
- of 1994 and the first half of 1995. In the second half of 1995, the inflation
- rate slowed to 0.7 percent as compared to the second half of 1994. If the
- current trend continues, overall inflation for Hawaii in 1995 will be
- slightly lower than 2.0 percent, the lowest since 1986.
- DBEDT expects the Honolulu Consumer Price Index to increase about 2.0 percent
- in 1995 and 2.5 percent in 1996. This is lower than the expected consumer
- price increases of 3.0 to3.5 percent for the nation as a whole in 1996,
- reflecting the relatively slower growth of Hawaii's economy. Real Gross State
- Product (RGSP) is expected to grow at an annual rate of approximately 2.2%
- between 1995 and 2000. Average annual growth in the number of civilian jobs is
- projected to rise by 1.8% per year over the next five years. Over the same
- period, the unemployment rate should decline gradually from 5.5% in 1995 to
- 5.3% over 1996-2000. Growth of real disposable income is anticipated to rise
- to 1% next year and to an average of 1.2% each year to 2000.
- Hawaii's people have seen dramatic changes in the economic structure over the
- last generation. The military and agriculture, the traditional pillars of the
- Hawaii economy, have declined and no longer employ the bulk of the labor
- force. At the same time, Hawaii's increasing reliance on service industries,
- especially tourism, makes them particularly sensitive to external economic
- events. To some extent, the effects of this sensitivity are reflected in the
- unprecedented long period of low growth in recent years.
- At no time since statehood has Hawaii grown at such low rates for such a
- sustained period. The initial downturn was clearly associated with the
- cyclical recession on the mainland and eventually in Japan. This cyclical
- downturn was exacerbated by important structural changes in Hawaii's economy.
- While Hawaii cannot ignore and must still address these structural issues, it
- appears that it is now rebounding from the cyclical downturn. Fourth quarter
- economic data for 1995 show that it is entering an economic recovery and
- prospects for the medium term are good.
-
-
-
-
- Economic Analysis of Hawaii
- Thesis: As military and agriculture decline, Hawaii's economy has diversified
- to encompass a large tourist business and a growing manufacturing industry.
-
- I. Hawaii
- A. Land
- B. Population
- C. Demographics
- II. Changes
- A. Defense
- B. Agriculture
- C. Tourism
- D. Industry
- III. Labor Force and Jobs
- A. Distribution
- B. Decline
- 1. Manufacturing
- 2. Agriculture
- C. Increase
- 1. Trade
- 2. Services
- IV. Unemployment
- V. Tourism
- VI. Defense
- VII. Construction
- VIII. Agriculture
- IX. Income
- X. Inflation
- XI. Price and Product
- XII. Recovery
-
-
- 1. HTTP://www.hawaii.gov.html, internet.
-
- 2."Hawaii," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation.
- Copyright (c) 1994. Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.
-
- 3. "Hawaii," World Book Encyclopedia. C1996. Worldbook, Inc.
- Chicago, London, Sydney, Toronto.
-
- 4. Hawaii. Sylvia McNair. C1990. Childrens Press. Chicago.
-
- 5. "Hawaii" 1995 Almanac. Microsoft Bookshelf. C1995.
-
- 6. Hawaii. Bureau of Economic Analysis. C1996.
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