Hawai‘i Awarded $764K to Study Military Impact on Economy

The State of Hawai‘i has been awarded a $763,856 grant by the US Department of Defense, Office of Economic Adjustment to study military impact on Hawai‘i’s economy.

Under the grant program, the state will be tasked with competing a Supply Chain Map for Hawai‘i’s defense contracting community.

The grant starts on July 1, 2016 and will be administered by the State of Hawai‘i, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

State officials not that the defense industry is Hawai‘i’s #2 economic sector.

Past analyses of the impact of the military in Hawai‘i have been completed at the macro-economic level.

The average annual direct defense expenditures in Hawai‘i are about $8.8 billion, resulting in a total output of $12.2 billion into the economy. This sector supports approximately 100,000 jobs, or 16.5% of Hawai‘i’s total jobs, across all islands.

“This grant will enable the State of Hawai‘i to identify the prime contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers to the military. This will enable us to plan ahead to better support this critical component of our economy by ensuring that Hawai‘i businesses are prepared to adapt to changing defense requirements,” said Gov. David Ige in a press release.

The Military Affairs Council of the Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i is a strategic partner for this grant.

“We look forward to partnering with the state to inventory and study Hawai‘i’s DoD supply chain which includes all of our MAC members. This project will reveal how the defense sector impacts every island and aspect of our economy,” said David Carey, Chairman of the Military Affairs Council.