The Consumer Price Indexes in Honolulu for 2007 and the first half of 2008 is available here or under What’s New. Honolulu has seen an increase in the CPI-W (Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers) of 5.1 percent in the first half of 2008 compared to the first half of 2007, and a 4.9 percent increase in the CPI-U (All Urban Consumers) in the same period. According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Pacific Cities report, the CPI-W for the West, including Hawaii, was 6.0 percent for the year ending July 2008. The U.S. city average for the same period was 6.2 percent.

What's New:

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) increased 1.1 percent in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. The June level was 5.6 percent higher than in June 2007.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI for all urban consumers advanced 1.1 percent in June, following a 0.6 percent increase in May. The index for energy rose sharply for the second straight month, increasing 6.6 percent in June following a 4.4 percent increase in May. The increase in the energy index accounted for around two-thirds of the overall increase in the all items index in June.

The CPI-W for Pacific Cities (including Honolulu) averaged 5.4 percent in June, a 1.1 percent increase over May.

While the state’s economy is slowing, it is not in a recession, Bank of Hawaii Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Paul Brewbaker told HEC members on June 10. His address was the second in HEC’s 65th Anniversary Distinguished Speaker Series. Although the airline cutbacks and declining passengers have affected Hawaii’s tourist industry, it’s “not as big as 9/11,” Brewbaker said, drawing an analogy between driving on the freeway and Hawaii’s economy—going from 45 miles per hour to 5 miles is “hard braking” but not a recession, which is going backwards. He projects that the state is likely to see about a 2.5 percent growth in 2009. For more on his economic forecasts, see the BOH Economics homepage.

Honolulu leads the West in Consumer Price Index increases, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Honolulu saw a 4.8 percent change in the CPI-U (All Urban Consumers) from the second half of 2006 to the second half of 2007. Anchorage in comparison saw a 2.9 increase from the second half of 2006 to the second half of 2007. HEC’s CPI summary is available to members here or under What’s New at our home page.

Hawaii businesses can tap into the resources of the Hawaii Business Research Library, part of the Hawaii Small Business Development Network. The Library provides free research services for small business needs via a research request or email at library@hawaii-sbdc.org. Research services include economic data and how to do a background check using available public data sources. The Network also provides free business counseling via appointment; see their online registration form.

Citing “another record-breaking year” for Hawaii’s visitor industry, the Dept. of Business, Economic Development and Tourism releases its 2006 Annual Visitor Research Report, which presents the final audited tourism statistics for 2006 and provides a comparison to 2005. The report also includes visitor characteristics and expenditures by major market areas (U.S., Japan, Canada, Europe, Oceania, Other Asia and Latin America), by first-time/repeat visitor status, and by island. Detailed spending categories by major market areas and by island are also reported.

Two Bureau of Labor Statistics researchers are attempting to lay to rest some myths about the Consumer Price Index in a detailed article for the Monthly Labor Review.

The myths addressed: that BLS lowers the CPI to reflect consumers’ substitutions of “hamburger for steak”; that the use of “hedonic” (pleasure) quality adjustment has distorted the CPI growth rate; that the 1983 change in the way homeowner costs are measured lowers the CPI rate increase; and that Social Security payments are indexed to a CPI that does not include food or energy. The researchers say the aim is to increase public understanding of how the CPI is constructed and what its strengths and limitations are.