Essay About Hispanic Origin And Asian Hispanics

Economic Analysis of Hawaii
Essay title: Economic Analysis of Hawaii
Economic Analysis of Hawaii
Hawaii, with an area of 28,313 sq. km (10,932 sq. mi.), is the 43rd largest
state in the U.S.; 6.9% of the land is owned by the federal government. It
consists mainly of the Hawaiian Islands, eight main islands and 124 islets,
reefs, and shoals. The major islands in order of size are Hawaii, Maui, Oahu,
Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Nihau, and Kahoolawe. Population growth has increased
by 80,000 persons over the past five years. Demographics show a large number
of Hispanic origin: Asian Hispanics are the most populated with white Hispanic
and Asian non-Hispanic following. Hawaiis economy has been long dominated by
plantation agriculture and military spending. As agriculture has declined in
importance, the economy has diversified to encompass a large tourist business
and a growing manufacturing industry.
Hawaiis economy has changed drastically since statehood. In 1958, defense,
sugar, and pineapple were the primary economic activities, accounting for 40%
of Gross State Product (GSP). In contrast, visitor-related expenditures stood
at just over 4% of Hawaiis GSP prior to statehood. Today the positions are
reversed; sugar and pineapple constitute about 1% of GSP, defense accounts for
just under 11%, while visitor-related spending comes close to 24% of Hawaiis
The movement toward a service- and trade-based economy becomes even more
apparent when considering the distribution of Hawaiis jobs across sectors.
The share of the economys jobs accounted for by manufacturing and agriculture
have declined steadily since 1959 and each currently makes up less than 4% of
total jobs in the economy. At the same time, the shares of jobs in wholesale
and retail trade and in services have risen, standing at about 23% and 28%,
respectively.
Since 1991, Hawaiis economy has suffered from rising rates of unemployment .
This stands in marked contrast to the period 1980 to 1993, when the state
enjoyed very low unemployment rates relative to the nation as a whole. But by
1994 the recession had raised Hawaiis unemployment rate to the national
average (6.1%) for the first time in 15 years. In 1995, the states
unemployment rate improved slightly in the first eleven months of the year to
5.4 percent, a 0.6 percentage point decline from the first eleven months of
1994. Despite the lower unemployment rate, the total number of wage and salary
jobs declined by 0.6 percent during the first eleven months of 1995. This was
due in part to a fall in part-time jobs which are often held by persons who
also have primary jobs elsewhere in the economy. The number of construction
jobs declined by more than 7
percent in the same period. Other industries–namely, manufacturing,
agriculture,
transportation, communications/utilities, and finance, insurance, and real
estateexperienced declines in the number of jobs as well. Jobs in retail trade
and services, however, increased 2.2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively,
reflecting an increase in visitor spending since 1994.
Following a dismal first quarter due to the Kobe earthquake, there was steady
growth in the tourism sector in 1995 with increases in the number of visitor
arrivals and hotel room rates. The number