Posted on 03/12/2006 9:33:59 AM PST by maui_hawaii
HONOLULU -- The number of people employed in Hawaii grew by 24,400, or 4 percent, during the 12-month period ending in January, according to state figures released Friday.
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations director Nelson B. Befitel said Hawaii has now posted the lowest unemployment rate in the nation for the last 21 straight months.
The islands' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 2.4 -- the lowest since January 1991. The rate stands in comparison to the 3 percent posted for Hawaii in January 2005.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted employment rate dropped from 5.2 percent in January 2005 to 4.7 percent in January.
I think you would be surprised at the political atmosphere in Hawaii.
Hawaii probably also leads the nation in people having more than one 'less than 20 hour' jobs. I think that is the breakpoint over which employers must pay for health care.
That is absolutely so.
Plus mom, dad, and the 17 year old kid all work too to make ends meet.
The type of work though matters as well.
People who are hooting and hollering about 'the rate'...thats only a general indicator, expecially in hawaii.
19 hours a week at Subway sandwich and 19 hours bagging groceries...
Thats about how it works.
Those jobs are easy and leave for lots of beach time. If the boss becomes a scrooge, then see ya later.
My understanding is the mortgage business has been doing quite well though...
I think that is the breakpoint over which employers must pay for health care.
Another example of where Socialism is worse than Capitalism.
Our health care insurance company says you have to work 30 or more hours to be eligible for health care.
Fewer jobs, but more full time employees
Time to go in and ask for a raise!
I went to the mainland for that very reason...(a raise)...
Hopefully I can get a raise and live on the beach again...
But who is doing the buying?
What do you mean doing the buying? Of what?
The theme here on Kauai is "work to surf (or fish, dive, etc.)". Thanks to escalating housing costs, no one can afford to move to Hawaii to work.
With such a low unemployment rate, it is impossible to find qualified workers, or so I hear from local building contractors. Out the last 2 guys one contractor hired, one was on drugs and living in his truck and the other was mentally unbalanced, thinking he was descended from Hawaiian royalty and owned thousands of acres of land.
If there's someone unemployed, they just write a bill to create more Govt jobs.
Thats pretty much the theme on every island :o)
Back later. I have to step out...
Hawaii has only a million people or so. Most of the islands are uninhabited, so what's the deal with expensive housing?
----you said- "My understanding is the mortgage business has been doing quite well though..." ----and my question was/is
But who is doing the buying? ......and the answer is ....
mainland buyers (?)
The high cost of housing and construction is due to the following factors:
1. High labor costs, partially because of a lack of available skilled employees, exacerbated by socialistic mandated medical insurance requirements for all employees working 20 or more hours per week.
2. Almost all construction materials have to be shipped from the mainland or Asia, not to mention the pyramiding effect of the 4.16% excise tax on each transaction - wholesaler to retailer to end user.
3. Lack of buildable, inexpensive land ($100K for a building lot, due to restrictive land use zoning. The Hawaii government still thinks that agriculture can be economically viable here, but costs of labor and shipping to the mainland are too high. Nevertheless, most of the land here is zoned for agricultural uses, and cannot be split into small house-sized parcels.
4. Enviro-whackos and anti-development politics prevent rezoning for high-density residential uses. Everyone wants low-cost housing, but nobody wants apartment buildings.
All of the above factors limit the supply of available housing for the locals. And when people from the mainland come in and want to buy 2nd or 3rd homes, or like me, semi-retire here, the dollar-driven demand drives the costs out of sight. My condo in Princeville is worth something like $600 to $700 per square foot in the present bubble/cycle - paid about $175 for it. I think it's time to cash in.
You have your locals who were paying 10% or greater for a mortgage on Oahu...and then all of the sudden were given the option of refinancing with 5-6% rates...
Its been the same all over the US. The property never changed hands really, just refinanced...
The same holds true for any commericial property (mainly only around Honolulu area)...
Added up it results in millions and even billions of dollars in savings...People can own their homes outright in half the time in some cases with a refinance.
Then you have the people who were priced out before all wanting to buy...among the local community...
But in Hawaii probably one of the biggest factors aside from the refinance boom is mainland speculators. They go in and build 2nd and third homes hoping at some future date to unload them.
People were able to build rental properties for example at next to nothing....
Basically that game of speculation is one of the biggest by far factors.
Some people live in Houston, but say bought second homes in Hawaii, but have an investment slant to them...
In the US economy there is a whole lot of idle cash sitting around. People didn't want to put it in the stock market so they turned to real estate...
And thats pretty much how it goes...
So you have the locals who refinance, or buy....that doesn't represent organic growth but it does present lots of opportunity for paper (finance term) to change hands etc....
The real organic growth in Hawaii's real estate is most assuredly coming from the Mainland... and not just California...
Its across the board from Houston to New York to Seattle...They are using it as an alternative investment vehicle...
In Hawaii as you know you have to get a permit before you can dig a hole in your own backyard...stuff like that extends construction times out for months on end...
That good old boy network is set up so there is a steady flow of business for the local contractors...
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