Hawaii Overview

Hawaii’s tropical islands are an appealing vacation spot for millions of travelers. The tourism industry has fueled the Hawaii job market and the state’s recovery, while a healthy government presence helped provide economic stability during the recession. Continued economic improvement and more tourism activity across the nation should support continued job growth for the Aloha State’s 650,000 workers.

Hawaii Job Opportunities

Besides tourism and government, other key Hawaii job sectors include science, research and technology, film and multimedia, energy, education/health services, and diversified agriculture.

With each branch of the US military having a base in Hawaii, the government sector accounts for nearly 21 percent of jobs in Hawaii, followed by the trade, transportation and utilities and leisure and hospitality industries. Leisure and hospitality, professional/business services, and the financial activities sectors are showing positive job expansion in 2012. The government, manufacturing and information industries shed jobs in early 2012.

Hawaii Employment Trends

Hawaii’s job market was relatively strong during the recession. The state’s unemployment rate, which peaked at 7.1 percent in the second half of 2009, had fallen to 6.3 percent by May 2012. Hawaii payrolls have shown mild job gains since late 2010. After reporting strong job demand in the second half of 2010, online hiring dipped a year later, but regained some positive momentum in mid-2012.

Moody’s Analytics predicts the number of Hawaii jobs will increase 1.5 percent between Q2 2012 and Q2 2013, more than the 1.3 percent growth expected in the country’s job supply during that time.