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I had no idea that Hawaii had joined the ranks of the shrinking states. Mississippi, my own state, has been talking about it for a few years and locally we all know that real careers are rarely found in Mississippi.
But in our case there are few tourists. We get the ones who follow home fix-up shows and we get some retirees who are usually jolted when they realize Mississippi can be a very pleasant place to live - especially when cost of living is factored in. Mississippi will probably never grow again - at least not significantly.
Will Hawaii? .......... What do you Hawaiians think?
Hopefully not …
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell …” - Edward Abbey
Except they aren't - Hawaii has more births than deaths - and a large number of net migrations moving out of state - far more people leave than move in - and besides, the educated tend to know better than to move to Hawaii versus the inflow of waitresses and bartenders.....
I'm not in the job market but I know a few educated people that are and altho not Hawaiian born had to go to the Mainland for jobs. Sure there seems to be plenty of part time service jobs wanting that will eventually be replaced by machines so even the less educated will be looking elsewhere. But this is not peculiar to Hawaii. Plenty of MidWest people left their small towns for jobs in the big city. Should Hawaii be the land for the rich or should we pave over everything so everybody can live here? I vote no.
Personally I think Kapolei was a huge mistake in recreating Orange county living on island. I also think there is a big difference between a state losing population and Hawaii that is losing population but has 10,000,000 plus tourists a year. Some places are just full and growth needs to be curtailed.
I suspect the people leaving aren't the ones on public assistance (which is out of control in Hawaii) - working at McDonalds - homeless - and the low skilled workforce.
If you keep losing your skilled workforce - all that means is higher taxes for those who remain to support the bottom of the food chain.
Call me a curmudgeon but I think the absence of the middle class that seem to routinely vote against their best interests is a good thing.
The rich seem to handle taxes pretty well.
I suspect the people leaving aren't the ones on public assistance (which is out of control in Hawaii) - working at McDonalds - homeless - and the low skilled workforce.
If you keep losing your skilled workforce - all that means is higher taxes for those who remain to support the bottom of the food chain.
Our reliance on public assistance is not better or worse than other states. We consistently rank in the middle in terms of welfare dependency.
The (accelerating) advancement of technology will continue to make middle and lower income jobs obsolete. Thus making it exceedingly difficult for them to survive without govt assistance. You can thank the advancement of technology for destroying the middle class and raising your taxes. This is not an issue unique to Hawaii. This national and global phenomena is nothing new.
Luckily for us, advancement in technology will result in more and more opportunities to work remotely. Whatever brain drain we experience will just be replaced by remote workers from the mainland and abroad. They will be well paid by their out of state companies; their earned income and subsequent spending will help support the tax base needed to provide govt assistance to the lower and middle income folks.
Our reliance on public assistance is not better or worse than other states. We consistently rank in the middle in terms of welfare dependency.
The (accelerating) advancement of technology will continue to make middle and lower income jobs obsolete. Thus making it exceedingly difficult for them to survive without govt assistance. You can thank the advancement of technology for destroying the middle class and raising your taxes. This is not an issue unique to Hawaii. This national and global phenomena is nothing new.
Luckily for us, advancement in technology will result in more and more opportunities to work remotely. Whatever brain drain we experience will just be replaced by remote workers from the mainland and abroad. They will be well paid by their out of state companies; their earned income and subsequent spending will help support the tax base needed to provide govt assistance to the lower and middle income folks.
I wouldn't be so sure about this impact/tradeoff/balance. We've seen companies on the mainland pay teleworkers based on where folks in the areas where they are physically located get paid, etc., decreasing their pay by as much as 25% sometimes even if they were conducting telework in a near-equally expensive area. This article touches on things somewhat.
Quote:
NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Google employees based in the same office before the pandemic could see different changes in pay if they switch to working from home permanently, with long commuters hit harder, according to a company pay calculator seen by Reuters.
It is an experiment taking place across Silicon Valley, which often sets trends for other large employers.
Facebook (FB.O) and Twitter (TWTR.N) also cut pay for remote employees who move to less expensive areas, while smaller companies including Reddit and Zillow (ZG.O) have shifted to location-agnostic pay models, citing advantages when it comes to hiring, retention and diversity.
. . .
Interviews with Google employees indicate pay cuts as high as 25% for remote work if they left San Francisco for an almost as expensive area of the state such as Lake Tahoe.
If you keep losing your skilled workforce - all that means is higher taxes for those who remain to support the bottom of the food chain.
I guess we could build 20-30 low income highrises out there in Kahala. Geez, I think there are only two highrises that are near the mall. And even if they couldn't WFH the Mall is just a short walk to their jobs at the Pretzel place. Does the "skilled" workforce even pay enough in taxes to justify their needs?
Luckily for us, advancement in technology will result in more and more opportunities to work remotely. Whatever brain drain we experience will just be replaced by remote workers from the mainland and abroad. They will be well paid by their out of state companies; their earned income and subsequent spending will help support the tax base needed to provide govt assistance to the lower and middle income folks.
From the same article that appears to be a failure so far. You have considerable challenges attracting remote workers - 1) The employer has to agree to let you work remotely in Hawaii (mine does not so I maintain a California address for work purposes - which is a pain at tax time - my health insurance is out of CA, etc - and when people return to the office - I have to be prepared to go to the Bay Area with a day notice for a meeting) 2) They may let you work in Hawaii - but you may not maintain your lofty mainland wages 3) Not everyone adjusts well to working mainland hours - especially in the summer when East Coast is 6 hours ahead 4) If you have a spouse/significant other - they may have trouble getting a decent job) 5) If you have kids - the schools suck - and not everyone can afford private and 6) The adjustments for remote workers in Hawaii who move to the mainland face the same challenges of other mainland transplants - which are considerable.
And ultimately, remote workers don't help a Hawaii brain drain if they are working for a mainland company - and don't be surprised if many come from States like Texas, Washington, Nevada with no state taxes - don't change their addresses to Hawaii - and therefore don't pay Hawaii state income taxes (I actually do - but I have business ties in Hawaii)
"State government has taken some steps to address the issue by creating more economic opportunities for residents. In September 2020, DBEDT's director, Mike McCartney, said he believed the state could create 38,000 new remote-work jobs in a year. To that end, the state launched the Hawaii Remote Work Project, a pilot program meant to connect Hawaii residents and out-of-state employers.
But it seems Hawaii isn’t close to reaching McCartney’s vision.While the state recovered some 70,000 jobs in the year after McCartney’s announcement, some 40,000 were in food service and accommodations and another 5,000 in retail, according to UHERO data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau doesn’t report on remote workers as an industry."
Leave it to the Pope to solve Hawaii's problem - more children! That's it - taking my pets to the shelter and beginning the procreation process straightaway.....
Pope Francis on Wednesday branded couples who adopt pets instead of children as "selfish" as part of a call to resolve the "demographic winter" that the West faces.
The pope addressed a general audience on the topic of parenthood and called on people to have more children as the West faces a declining population.
A bunch of hypocrisy, Pope is irrelevant. People have far more economic freedom and common sense to decide whether they want to have children or not.
It could be a lot of what has been said in the previous posts. But i think its just the high cost of living in Hawaii is a factor.
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