Economy

... Hawaii 2020 unemployment claims surpass 380,000 ....

...Hawaii’s negative migration of the past several years in a row is going to accelerate....

...Hawaii’s general fund spending rose a hefty 5.7 percent in 2020, thus reducing the governor’s score in this report....

...Hawaii’s leading industry, tourism, has virtually disappeared; unemployment is at historic highs; hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses have permanently closed; state and county tax revenues have evaporated....

...Hawaii has recovered just 13% of the jobs lost since the start of the pandemic....

... Prior to COVID-19, our respondents reported a roughly 4% vacancy rate .... In August, however, this number jumped to 9% ....

...UHERO report illustrated a dark forecast—worse than the aftermath of 9/11—for travel and tourism in Hawaiʻi, across the U.S. and around the world....

...Our baseline forecast now sees meaningful economic recovery delayed until the middle of next year, and an attenuated recovery period thereafter....

... At the beginning of the year, our governor boasted about his efforts to put the state on a “sound financial footing.” What a difference a few months can make ....

...Hawaii lost the highest percentage (-3.5 percent, -1,300 jobs) of construction jobs for the month....

...Jobs declined by 105,200 over-the-year....

...Hawaii was the second-most-dependent state on the additional $600 in unemployment benefits that expired at the end of July.....

...These notices only represent announcements by companies in the state that have 100 or more employees....

...The revision is mainly due to the delayed pre-test program for trans-Pacific travel and the two-week Stay-at-Home, Work-from-Home order for Oahu....

... The unemployment rate would have been much higher except that there were nearly 30,000 fewer people in the labor force than a year ago ....

...Caldwell said at the news briefing that county and state leaders discussed the modified restrictions for O‘ahu over the past five days, trying to decide whether to use a scalpel or a hammer. “We’ve chosen a scalpel,” Caldwell said....

... Hawaii 5th largest quarterly increase in overall delinquency rate ....

...Growing the budget and approving government employee pay raises when Hawaii is running out of money is an unsustainable way to run a state....

...With the exception of jobs in information technology and other services, no industry category saw a meaningful increase from the devastating April 2020 job numbers....

...In the meantime, the unemployed need to survive without any plus-up at all....

...due to the increased difficulty of navigating a trans-Pacific move. There is also fear of a spike in COVID-19 cases in states such as California and Texas....

"...At the stroke of midnight tonight (July 31) there will be over 161,000 Hawaii residents about to fall off the federal unemployment cliff and there appears to be no solution at hand...."

... more than 16,000 jobs are available across the state. Top positions included retail salesperson, network and systems administrator and security guard ....

...States Whose Unemployment Rates Are Bouncing Back Most....

...which measures changes in employment and employee wages, monthly revenue and revenue sources, current state of operations and plan for trans-Pacific tourism opening, impact of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and business outlook....

...individuals are classified as employed, unemployed, or not in the labor force based on questions about their activities during the survey reference week (June 7th through June 13th)....

...Employment–population ratio, Hawaii 2nd lowest in USA....

...the state’s total employment rate, as well as its unemployment rate, will not return to its pre-pandemic level until 2029....

... donning rose-colored glasses and approaching the budget shortfall as a temporary setback ....

...151,071 valid claims are being paid....

...the Hawaii Legislature should not make a dismal situation worse....

"...The revenue profiles of the state and the city and county are quite different. The state is much more exposed to volatile revenue sources such as general excise tax and transient accommodation tax (TAT)...."

...51% of respondents in households with at least one child report their income has declined since the start of COVID-19....

...A grim financial outlook is on the horizon for the state of Hawaiʻi due to the impact of COVID-19....

...Carl Bonham told lawmakers that we’re going to lose another 30,000 people in just two years. A more pessimistic scenario assumes we are going to lose that 30,000 people in ONE year....

... State Has Issued $803,200,377 in Benefits Since March 1 ....

...threw Gov. Ige’s multiyear budget off target by a total of $26 billion between fiscal years 2020 and 2025....

... Napier has encouraged his readers to think critically about how our state and counties have responded to the public health threat ....

...Bureau of Labor Statistics recently disclosed that it misclassified many workers on temporary layoffs as “absent from work because of other reasons” rather than “unemployed.” Therefore, the real unemployment rate may be around 33 percent higher than reported....

...to provide food assistance to recently unemployed individuals is set to conclude with two remaining food distribution events at Aloha Stadium....

...It was developed by the Governor’s Office along with the Hawai‘i Economic and Community Recovery Navigator in collaboration with many government agencies and business sector partners....

...if our leaders let their coronavirus lockdowns linger, Hawaii can expect a wave of "deaths of despair"....

...If Hawaii extends its 14-day quarantine or imposes testing requirements on visitors, this could lead to “a steeper decline in arrivals in 2020 and would likely delay the recovery”....

...Roadmap to Prosperity: How Hawaii can recover and even excel after the coronavirus lockdown....

...The question is what that reopening will look like, how long it will take, and what the legacy of COVID-19 will be for the Hawaii economy....

...The roughly half of the population who cannot work from home are getting screwed over by those who can....

...Assume visitor industry will start opening in September 2020 and will recover 30 percent of arrivals (from same month in 2019) in September and 45 percent in December 2020....

...proposals regarding how Hawaii can recover and even excel after the state's economically devastating coronavirus lockdown....

...According to the United States Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, released on May 20....

...only Nevada and Michigan are higher....