County Results from Small Business Survey

From UHERO, May 5, 2020

The attached tables represent a county-by-county breakdown of the key statistics summarized in last week’s statewide analysis of the UHERO / Chamber of Commerce small business survey. Each table is weighted relative to the number of businesses in each sector in each county.

The take home is clear – businesses in Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai Counties are doing worse than those in Honolulu in nearly every respect. To take just one stark example, the total job reductions between January and April in Honolulu county were 34% of full-time jobs and 41% of part-time. These numbers were much higher on Hawaii (50% and 67%), Maui (69% and 68%), and Kauai (56% and 62%).

Our data only shows the what, not the why, but the one significant factor is that the outer island economies are more reliant on tourism than those on Oahu, who have the benefit of serving a larger resident population.

A word of caution. As with any dataset, the more it is subdivided, the less reliable any specific number becomes. We have removed any numbers based on fewer than five responses, but those that are reported have high margins of error. This is particularly true for the tables on Maui County, from which we received the fewest survey responses.

Job Losses By Category (Download XLS)

April 27, 2020: COVID-19’s Uneven Impact on Businesses and Workers: Results from a UHERO-Chamber of Commerce Hawaii Survey

UHERO BLOGS ARE CIRCULATED TO STIMULATE DISCUSSION AND CRITICAL COMMENT. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS.