Hawaii – Coronavirus Economic Recovery
Hawaii’s economy is doing betterthan expected. The latest report from the University of Hawaii EconomicResearch Organization (UHERO) published this week, estimates thousands morevisitors and tens of thousands more jobs in the islands by the end of the year.In their forecast, the UHERO indicates adding another 20,000 to 25,000 jobs in2021. While the report says a full recovery is still several years away,Hawaii’s economy is on the upswing. Get moreinformation about HawaiiDaily News
Allbut two states remain down from their February 2020 employmentlevels as of December 2021—with 33 states still experiencing worse jobloss than in the Great Recession. The country as a whole is also down more jobsthan in the Great Recession, with employment reduced by 9.9 million jobs.Overall, nearly one-in-five Americans (17%) say they have lost their job, as aresult of the Coronavirus outbreak, and about a quarter of Americans (23%) saythey had to take pay cut due to reduced hours or demand for their work; 10% ofAmericans say they experienced both a pay cut and job loss. About one-in-fiveAmericans say someone else in their immediate household lost their job (18%) orlost wages (22%). In total, 43% of Americans say they, or someone in theirhousehold has lost a job or wages.
Ofthe 9.9 million jobs lost, Hawaii accounts for just over 58,000 of these jobs.During the fourth quarter of 2020, the number of Hawaii’s civilian unemployedaveraged 72,650 people, an increase of 56,000 people or 336.3% from the samequarter of 2019. In 2020, the number of Hawaii’s unemployed increased 58,300people or 322.7% from the previous year. Of the Hawaii population who remainemployed, roughly 23-25% have experienced wage reductions. Those who did notexperience wage reductions have only managed to do so by miraculously findingother primary and secondary jobs.
Thehardest hit economic sector is the leisure and hospitality sector on whichHawaii has been reliant for decades. The coronavirusin Hawaii caused unemployment primarily to the leisure and hospitalitysector. Hawaii’s unemployment will be significantly lessened should the UHEROreport prove correct and 20,000 to 25,000 jobs would be added by the end of2021. The number of the states’, residents experiencing wage reduced employmentwill also be lessened by the return of economic stability and continuedemployment.
Following over a year of pent-up coronavirus induced fear and frustration,Americans returning to normalcy will have an increased desire to travel. Therehave surely been hundreds of locked down promises made to get back to travelingwhen this is all over. At first, this travel will most likely be domesticUnited States interstate travel, given that the rest of the world ma still bemore severely locked down than the United States. You have those bold Americanswho will immediately dive right in and venture far away from the mainland;however, most Americans may be more cautious and only stick a toe or two intothe vacation pool.
MostAmericans will likely elect to remain closer to home and more plentifullyavailable assistance in the event something goes wrong. This cautious approach,plus the unpredictable trends associated with emerging, more contagiouscoronavirus variants will cause Hawaii’s leisure and hospitality industries torecover more slowly than the same industries in Orlando and Las Vegas. Rightnow, Americans thinking about vacations are not thinking about far-away Hawaiibut are instead thinking about Disneyland and Sin City or the vacation spots inclosest proximity.
Hawaii’sleisure, hospitality, and transportation industries would be prudent to
promote travel here and to offer special discounts well before this state’sprojected reopening. The return of the tourism also means one more prudentpreparation. That preparation is supporting a state tourism population up to 10million annually; all of whom are potential coronavirus patients. This worrydoes not mean Hawaii should be afraid to try, nor afraid to reopen. It means toembrace perpetual pandemic preparedness, alongside perpetual leisure,hospitality, income, and ultimately revenue and recovery.
