Research & Economic Analysis

2nd Quarter 2023 Report

Download Data Table (spreadsheet)

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

In the first quarter of 2023, the total number of visitors arriving by air to Hawaii increased 424,426 or 21.5 percent and daily visitor census increased 37,448 or 17.6 percent.

In the first quarter of 2023, the construction sector added 2,300 jobs or 6.3 percent compared with the same quarter of 2022 and government contracts awarded increased $2,960.7 million or 1,342.5 percent, compared with the same quarter of 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, the permit value for private construction decreased $78.2 million or 9.0 percent. According to the most recent excise tax base data available, construction put-in-place increased $254.2 million or 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with the same quarter of the previous year. For 2022 construction put-in-place increased $678.8 million or 6.7 percent compared with the previous year.

In the first quarter of 2023, State general fund tax revenues decreased $9.1 million or 0.4 percent over the same period of 2022. The state general excise tax revenue increased $123.1 million or 12.1 percent, the transient accommodations tax (TAT) increased $32.6 million or 16.6 percent, the net corporate income tax revenues increased $16.0 million or 83.1 percent, and the net individual income tax revenues decreased $135.0 million or 16.6 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 mainly positive. In the first quarter of 2023, Hawaii’s non-agricultural wage and salary jobs averaged 630,400 jobs, an increase of 23,300 jobs or 3.8 percent from the same quarter of 2022.

The job increase in the first 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 21,600 non-agricultural jobs compared to the first 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 6,700 jobs or 11.1 percent; followed by Accommodation, which added 3,900 jobs or 11.1 percent, Natural Resources, Mining, and Construction, which added 2,300 jobs or 6.3 percent, Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities, which added 1,900 jobs or 6.0 percent, and Arts, Entertainment & Recreation, which added 1,500 jobs or 13.8 percent, in the quarter. The Government sector added 1,700 jobs or 1.4 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same quarter of 2022. The Federal Government added 400 jobs or 1.2 percent, the State Government added 900 jobs or 1.3 percent, and the Local Government added 300 jobs or 1.6 percent, compared to the first quarter of 2022.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, total annualized nominal GDP increased $6,466 million or 6.8 percent, from the same quarter of 2021. In 2022, total annualized nominal GDP increased $7,123 million or 7.8 percent from the previous year. In the fourth quarter of 2022, total annualized real GDP (in chained 2012 dollars) increased $77 million or 0.1 percent from the same quarter of 2021. In 2022, total annualized real GDP increased $871 million or 1.2 percent from the previous year.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, total non-farm private sector annualized earnings increased $3,225.6 million or 7.5 percent from the same quarter of 2021. In dollar terms, the largest increase occurred in accommodation and food services, followed by retail trade, and transportation and warehousing. During the fourth quarter of 2022, total government earnings increased $422.3 million or 2.5 percent from the same quarter of 2021. Earnings from the federal government increased $122.6 million. Earnings from the state and local governments increased $299.7 million in the quarter.

In the second half of 2022, Honolulu’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 6.3 percent from the same period in 2021 (Table B-14). This is 1.4 percentage point below the 7.7 percent increase for the U.S. average CPI-U but is higher than the second half of 2021 Honolulu CPI-U increase of 5.0 percent from the same period of the previous year. In the second half of 2022, the Honolulu CPI-U increased the most in Transportation (12.6 percent), followed by Medical Care (10.5 percent), Food and Beverages (7.8 percent), Other Goods and Services (7.8 percent), Housing (4.7 percent), Education and Communication (1.7 percent), Apparel (1.5 percent). The only decline was in Recreation (1.3 percent).