HONOLULU — The latest quarterly economic report prepared by DBEDT economists shows that the current status of Hawai‘i’s economy is stronger than it was in 2002. “Hawai‘i’s economy is doing well in spite of the fact that both the U.S.
HONOLULU — The latest quarterly economic report prepared by DBEDT economists shows that the current status of Hawai‘i’s economy is stronger than it was in 2002.
“Hawai‘i’s economy is doing well in spite of the fact that both the U.S. and Japanese economies are below their pre-9/11 levels and that international visitor arrivals are still weak,” said DBEDT Director Theodore E. Liu.
As noted in the September 2003 issue of the Department’s Quarterly Statistical and Economic Report, Hawai‘i”s current level of economic activity “continues to be helped through otherwise slow times by strong investment in construction and real estate.”
According to the report, total wage and salary jobs in the second quarter of 2003 increased 2.1 percent or 12,000 jobs compared to the second quarter of 2002.
The 2003 second quarter total wage and salary job count is a new all-time high for the state.
The state unemployment rate for the second quarter of 2003 fell 4 percent down from 4.4 percent in the same quarter the year before.
“Over the last nine months, since Governor (Linda) Lingle has been in office, the economy has been strong and the business community continues to be optimistic as reflected by the employment expansion that we’ve seen in Hawai‘i over the past couple of quarters,” Liu said.
The report also notes that total private building authorizations for the second quarter of 2003 increased 62 percent over the same quarter in 2002. Bankruptcy filings were down 6.4 percent statewide.
General Excise Tax (GET) collections, a broad measure of the economy’s health, were up 13.4 percent.
The latest quarterly forecast includes a new indicator, visitor days. The total visitor days is expected to reach 63.2 million in 2003, an increase of 4.4 percent over 2002.
Based on underlying strength in job growth and domestic tourism, DBEDT projects nominal personal income for 2003 to increase by 4.6 percent and inflation-adjusted real personal income to increase 2.7 percent.
The projected 4.4 percent increase in visitor days is expected to generate a 5.6 percent increase in overall visitor expenditures in 2003.
Beyond 2003, the forecast anticipates the economy settling into a long-run growth path, with job growing at 1.3 percent per year.
