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First Hawaiian Bank economist Leroy Laney said Thursday "A bottom (for the Big Island economy) has emerged. It won't be long before job gains become consistent…" he said [1]. "We're already seeing signs of recovery in tourism." Furthermore, he expects that Hilo will benefit from the creation of 500 jobs when Target and Safeway open new stores. However, he did not comment on the pros and cons of low-paying service jobs (tourism and store sales) vs. manufacturing jobs, other than to highlight the creative work by start-ups at NELHA and by biodiesel jobs:
Bright spots in the Big Island economy, Laney said, include NELHA (Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority) next to the Kona airport, a campus for biotech and energy enterprises that seems to attract new tenants whenever it loses old ones - and the astronomy sector, which will see 140 construction jobs plus contractors as a new telescope is built. The project still needs more approvals and has some opposition.
Laney also mentioned job creation from Big Island Carbon, close to opening at Kawaihae, Puna Geothermal, planning expansion, and Maui-based Pacific Biodiesel, which has broken ground on a plant in Keeau[1].
On a more generic level, Harold Myerson's commentary [2] makes a convincing case for devoting more effort towards creating manufacturing jobs, rather than service jobs, citing as examples how China and Germany were much less affected by the world-wide recession, than countries like the US, who have been busy outsourcing such manufacturing jobs to other countries. His comments resonated well with many Big Islanders who are helping Hawaii to become energy self-sufficient, whether it is via expanding energy generation from sun[3], wind[3], geo or waves, and or storage based on pumped water, compressed air, thermal, battery, hydrogen or ammonia[4,5]
References
[2] Harold Myerson (editor-at-large, American Prospect and L.A. Weekly), "Assembly-Line Politics," West Hawaii Today, 19 August 2010, p.6-7A
[4] Chester P. Lowrey, Jason C. Ganley, and Guy Toyama, “Air-Source Ammonia Plant (ASAP),” proposal submitted to HTDV, 12 July 2010
[5] The 7th Annual NH3 Fuel Conference, Crowne Plaza, Romulus, MI, Sept. 26-28, 2010
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