Dark clouds are looming over Hawaiʻi even as the economy appears to be improving

Despite recovering from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, Hawaiʻi faces major problems that existed before the pandemic and that are likely to worsen, experts on Hawaiʻi’s economy and demographics say.

Hawaiʻi’s economy may be bouncing back.

“But” University of Hawaiʻi economist Carl Bonham says, “what are we bouncing back to?”

Even though tourists might be flocking back to Waikīkī, Hawaiʻi is in trouble.

Consider Hawaiʻi’s most vulnerable: there are no doubt more of them than before the pandemic, and, Bonham says, they are almost certainly worse off, despite federal stimulus money that kept many households afloat.

According to a 2020 report by the Aloha United Way, 42 percent of Hawaiʻi households were just making ends meet and 33 percent were just above the poverty level. Known as “asset limited, income constrained, employed,” these so-called ALICE families were essentially living paycheck to paycheck with little financial cushion if something went wrong.