The two COVID-19 waves since last summer caused a pullback in Hawaii tourism and a pause in labor market recovery. Visitor arrivals are now picking up and broader growth is resuming. The expected transition of the virus to an endemic disease will enable the return of international visitors. Considerable risks remain, including COVID-19 surprises, Fed tightening, and economic fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This report reissued March 30, 2022 to correct county population estimates. There are no other changes.
1 thought on “UHERO Forecast for the State of Hawaii: With Omicron in the rearview mirror, a clearer road ahead?”
Ugh.
The labor market?! You mean service jobs? Hurrah for international travelers … how many direct flights will we expect to add from China? The crippling debt the government is under to pay for government pensions never gets discussed, where is an accounting of what happened to the federal relief money and what is rail but good money after bad (rearranging tax incomes to pour into that boondoggle)? Not to mention rolling corruption investigations by the Federal Government and the fact that Covid is not in the rearview mirror while still bubbling away in the third world. I grieve for the prospects of the majority of the lovely people of this state.