Hawaii FEP - Western Pacific Fishery Council

Figure 11: Gross State Product, 1970-2005The current unemployment rate (2006, see Table 10) of 2.6% (DBEDT 2007) is the lowest in theUnited States by far, and close to half the U.S. average rate. This marks a major turn-aroundfrom the 1990s when Asian economies declined, the U.S. military down-sized due to the end ofthe Cold War, and Hawaii plantation agriculture was battered by the cost effects of global trade.Construction, manufacturing and agriculture account for only 9% of wage and salary jobs. About30% of civilian workers are professional or managerial. Federal, state and local governmentaccounts for 20% of wage and salary jobs (DBEDT 2006).Table 10: Hawaii Employment Statistics2006Civilian labor force 651,850Employed 635,100Unemployment rate 2.6%Payroll jobs 624,650Real personal income ($ million) 46,766Tourism arrivals increased almost monotonically from 1970-1990, but growth was slower in the1990s until the past three years. There were 7.4 million tourists in Hawaii in 2005. Thisrepresents a daily rate of 185,445 tourists, 13% of the “de facto” population (resident, tourist,and military combined), indicating the weight of tourism in many sectors of Hawaii’s economyand society (DBEDT 2005). Tourism arrivals have become more evenly distributed acrosssource locations, with the continental U.S. and Japan being the mainstays, but with arrivalsincreasing from Europe and China. Nonetheless, Hawaii’s economy remains subject to nationaland international economic factors.Total federal expenditures were $12.2 billion in 2004, with 85,900 military personnel anddependents and 31,300 federal civilian workers (not all of whom work on military bases,DBEDT 2006). Research and development spending by the federal government (2003) was$349.6 million representing the importance of the University of Hawaii and a number of otherpublic and private research entities in particular.Despite these successes, at some individual and community levels Hawaii’s commercialeconomy has been less successful. For example, per capita disposable income in Hawaii($29,174) has fallen to below the national average despite a cost of living nearly double thenational average (Table 11).Table 11: Hawaii Cost of Living Comparison85