Research & Economic Analysis

3rd Quarter 2023 Report

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Hawaii’s major economic indicators were mixed in the second quarter of 2023. Visitor arrivals, wage and salary jobs, and private building authorizations increased in the quarter compared to the second quarter of 2022. However, government contracts awarded and State general fund tax revenues decreased.

In the second quarter of 2023, the total number of visitors arriving by air to Hawaii increased 58,449 or 2.4 percent and daily visitor census increased 722 or 0.3 percent.

In the second quarter of 2023, the construction sector added 100 jobs or 0.3 percent compared with the same quarter of 2022 and government contracts awarded decreased $2,336.6 million or 74.5 percent, compared with the same quarter of 2022. In the second quarter of 2023, the permit value for private construction increased $311.8 million or 49.1 percent. According to the most recent excise tax base data available, construction put-in-place increased $116.1 million or 4.5 percent in the first quarter of 2023, compared with the same quarter of the previous year. For 2022 construction put-in-place increased $678.6 million or 6.7 percent compared with the previous year.

In the second quarter of 2023, State general fund tax revenues decreased $231.6 million or 7.7 percent over the same period of 2022. The state general excise tax revenue increased $56.2 million or 5.2 percent, the transient accommodations tax (TAT) increased $2.6 million or 1.2 percent, the net corporate income tax revenues increased $19.7 million or 17.2 percent, and the net individual income tax revenues decreased $261.7 million or 18.2 percent. In 2022, State general fund tax revenues increased $1,303.4 million or 16.0 percent compared to the previous year.

Labor market conditions were largely positive. In the second quarter of 2023, Hawaii’s non-agricultural wage and salary jobs averaged 631,600 jobs, an increase of 17,200 jobs or 2.8 percent from the same quarter of 2022.

The job increase in the second quarter of 2023 was due to job increases in both the private sector and the government sector. In this quarter, the private sector added about 14,200 non-agricultural jobs compared to the second quarter of 2022. Most of the private sector industries added jobs in the quarter. The number of jobs increased the most in Food Services and Drinking Places, which added 4,300 jobs or 6.9 percent; followed by Accommodation, which added 2,500 jobs or 6.9 percent, Professional and Business services, which added 1,600 jobs or 2.2 percent, Private Educational Services, which added 1,500 jobs or 10.9 percent, and Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities, which added 1,300 jobs or 4.0 percent, in the quarter. The Government sector added 3,000 jobs or 2.5 percent in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the same quarter of 2022. The Federal Government added 600 jobs or 1.7 percent, the State Government added 2,300 jobs or 3.4 percent, and the Local Government added 300 jobs or 1.6 percent, compared to the second quarter of 2022.

In the first quarter of 2023, total annualized nominal GDP increased $7,984 million or 8.4 percent, from the same quarter of 2022. In 2022, total annualized nominal GDP increased $7,123 million or 7.8 percent from the previous year. In the first quarter of 2023, total annualized real GDP (in chained 2012 dollars) increased $1,552 million or 2.1 percent from the same quarter of 2022. In 2022, total annualized real GDP increased $871 million or 1.2 percent from the previous year.

In the first quarter of 2023, total non-farm private sector annualized earnings increased $3,978.7 million or 9.3 percent from the same quarter of 2022. In dollar terms, the largest increase occurred in accommodation and food services, followed by health care and social assistance, and construction. During the first quarter of 2023, total government earnings increased $790.3 million or 4.6 percent from the same quarter of 2022. Earnings from the federal government increased $366.7 million. Earnings from the state and local governments increased $423.6 million in the quarter.

In the first half of 2023, Honolulu’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 3.4 percent from the same period in 2022. This is 1.5 percentage point below the 4.9 percent increase for the U.S. average CPI-U and is lower than the first half of 2022 Honolulu CPI-U increase of 6.7 percent from the same period of the previous year. In the first half of 2023, the Honolulu CPI-U increased the most in Apparel (15.6 percent), followed by Other Goods and Services (10.3 percent), Food and Beverages (4.5 percent), Recreation (4.4 percent), Education and Communication (2.7 percent), Housing (2.2 percent), and Transportation (1.7 percent) compared to the first half of 2022.