UHERO Hawai’i Quarterly Forecast Update: State Budget Crisis Threatens Recovery

Economy, Forecasts

Two recent developments have caused us to mark down a bit our already weak outlook for the Hawai’i economy. The H1N1 flu epidemic has worsened prospects for Japanese tourism, which will lead to somewhat larger visitor losses this year. But the bigger concern is fallout from the State fiscal crisis. Government actions to address the growing revenue shortfall will further depress jobs and especially income this year and next, with the risk that recovery could be further delayed.