Hawaii workers’
annual pay grows
at second-slowest
rate in U.S.

The 2.8% increase to $30,630
in 2000 trails the national average
by nearly $3,000, a report says

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By Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.com

Annual pay in Hawaii increased 2.8 percent during 2000, to average $30,630, the second-slowest gain in the nation, according to a report released yesterday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Labor. Only wages in Louisiana grew more slowly.

Hawaii's pay level trails the national average of $35,296 and is well behind the average of $39,583 in the five other Pacific states, according to the report. The bureau's Pacific division includes Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

Average pay among the Pacific division grew at a rate of 8.4 percent in 2000, compared to a national average of 5.9 percent growth.

California's average annual pay of $41,194 was ranked the fifth-highest among all U.S. states. The state also showed the strongest growth among Pacific states, at 9.6 percent.

Annual pay data are compiled from reports submitted by employers subject to state and federal unemployment insurance laws covering 129.9 million full-and-part-time workers nationwide.

Annual pay in Hawaii's private sector industries, which comprises 75 percent of the work force in the state, averaged $29,181 in 2000, or $6,124 less than the national average. Private sector pay in Hawaii advanced 3.6 percent during 2000, considerably slower than the 6.2 percent increase seen nationwide.

Among private sector businesses in Hawaii, the largest pay increase was in the mining industry at 8.8 percent followed by manufacturing at 7.4 percent.

Mining continued to be the highest-paid industry in Hawaii at $56,997 annually; however, the industry employs only 0.1 percent of the work force. The retail trade offered the lowest wages, due largely to the number of part-time workers in the industry.

Construction, agriculture, forestry and fishing were industries in Hawaii where annual pay exceeded the national average, but Hawaii lagged the nation in seven of nine private sector industry divisions.

The service sector, Hawaii's largest industry, accounted for 40.3 percent of all private sector jobs.

Annual pay in metropolitan Honolulu was 96th among 318 metropolitan areas surveyed at $31,871. But the city's pay level was still well below the national average of $37,010 in other metropolitan areas.

Further details and information about the annual report can be seen on the Internet at www.bls.gov/ro9/ro9news.htm.