LIHU‘E — According to recently released reports from the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, economic conditions were on the upswing in the second quarter of 2012.
Unemployment decreased on all the Neighbor Islands, along with non-agricultural wages and salary jobs. The value of private building permits also increased on Kaua‘i.
During the second quarter of 2012, the unemployment rate in Kaua‘i County decreased 1 percentage point from 9.1 percent to 8.1 percent. In September alone, DBEDT posted that the unemployment rate on Kaua‘i dropped one-tenth of a percent to 6.9 percent.
During the second quarter of 2012, “Kaua‘i County gained 350 wage and salary jobs or 1.3 percent from the same quarter last year. Accommodation gained 400 jobs, followed by food services and drinking places (300 jobs). In this quarter, retail trade and professional and business services both lost 250 jobs.”
Kaua‘i was second only to Honolulu in terms of visitor arrivals, boasting a 70 percent hotel occupancy rate and increasing by 9.7 percentage points over the year prior.
Growth rates as evidenced by the total number of private building permits were positive across all the counties, with Kaua‘i increasing by $2.6 million, or 15.8 percent. DBEDT forecasts that, based on these numbers and combined with the rest of Hawai‘i, the state’s overall economy will continue with positive growth for the rest of 2012 and into 2013.
Visitor arrivals are expected to increase 9.4 percent in 2012, 0.8 of a percentage point higher than the previous forecast, according to the DBEDT report.
The forecast for visitor expenditure in 2012 is revised upward to 18.8 percent, from 15.2 percent growth projected in the previous forecast. For 2013, the growth rates of visitor arrivals, visitor days and visitor expenditures are now expected to be 3.9 percent, 3.7 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively.
The printed version of this article referred to the Department of Business and Economic Development. The proper title of DBEDT is the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
