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Hawaii
construction
spending
falls 46%

More than 12,000 building
jobs have been lost since the
peak of 1992, a state report says

By Tim Ruel
Star-Bulletin

The total value of construction contracts in Hawaii dropped 46 percent to $266.86 million during the first quarter from $490.36 million for the same period last year, continuing an industrywide slump that began in the early '90s.

A 69 percent plunge in nonresidential building, such as offices, diminished a 13 percent gain in residential building in the first three months of the year, according to a recent survey by the F.W. Dodge division of the McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Nonbuilding construction, such as streets and highways, fell 65 percent from a year ago.

In March alone, the value of contracts for future construction fell 42 percent to $105.5 million from $183.2 million in March 1999 pushed by an 86 percent dropoff in nonresidential building, the report said.

Hawaii's slide began in 1992 when the construction industry peaked at $4 billion in annual spending, then spending went south with the economy, according to a separate report recently issued by the state government.

Since the peak, investment has fallen by $1 billion and more than 12,000 construction jobs have been lost, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. Because the industry is such an integral part of the economy, the downturn may have cost up to 4,000 more jobs outside the construction sector, the report said.

"I hear more suffering than signs of recovery," said Brian Lee, executive director of Hawaii Construction Industry Association, which represents most unionized workers and contractors in the islands.

The state report indicated that the industry slump will not heal anytime soon.