Facts & Figures

Hawaii’s economy benefits directly from the ideal growing conditions that allow it to export the tropical plants and products, such as coffee, pineapples, and papaya, which are in demand across the U.S. and the world. Of the top 25 commodities that Hawaii exports, six are agricultural and those agricultural exports represent 7.7% of U.S. total exports. More than 80% of Hawaiian companies that export their products overseas are small or medium sized businesses.

Job Creation

Trade supported 201,700 jobs in Hawaii in 2008, or 23.1% of total jobs, up from 11.4% in 1992.¹
About 5.3% of all manufacturing workers in Hawaii depended on exports for their jobs.²
In 2008, 30,600 people in Hawaii were employed by U.S. affiliates of companies that are at least 50% foreign-owned.³

Exports and Growth

Hawaii exported $685 million in merchandise to foreign markets in 2010. Hawaii’s largest market in 2010 was Japan ($148 million), followed by Australia ($140 million), the Netherlands ($85 million), and Singapore ($63 million).⁴
In 2008, 714 companies exported goods from Hawaii. Of these, 89% were small- and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.⁵
Agricultural exports are important to Hawaii’s economy, totaling $100 million and supporting about 1,158 jobs in 2008.⁶
Since 2007, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has financed $0.53 million in exports from 4 companies in 2 communities in Hawaii⁷

Education and Research

In 2008–2009, 672 Hawaiian students studied abroad.⁸
During 2009–2010, 5,000 international students were enrolled in Hawaiian colleges and universities and contributed $116.8 million to the Hawaiian economy.⁹

Global Engagement

Since 1961, 1,294 Peace Corps volunteers from Hawaii have served in dozens of countries overseas.¹⁰

Download the Fact Sheet

http://businessroundtable.org/uploads/studies-reports/downloads/Trade_and_American_Jobs.pdf
http://ita.doc.gov/td/industry/otea/state_reports/
Anderson, Thomas and William J. Zeile. “U.S. Affiliates of Foreign Companies Operations in 2008”. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce. http://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/2010/11%20November/1110_us_ops.pdf
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/state/data/hi.html
http://www.ita.doc.gov/td/industry/otea/state_reports/index.html
http://www.fas.usda.gov/info/factsheets/WTO/states.html
https://webappsprod01.exim.gov/apps/usmap/usmap.nsf
International Education. “Open Doors 2010 Report on International Educational Exchange Institute of International Education”. STUDY ABROAD BY U.S. STATE, http://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/Fact-Sheets-by-US-State
http://www.nafsa.org/_/File/_/eis2010/Hawaii.pdf
http://multimedia.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/stats/homestates.pdf