New Americans in the Aloha State

The Political and Economic Power of Immigrants, Asians, and Latinos in Hawaii.

Immigrants and their children are growing shares of Hawaii’s population and electorate.

• The foreign-born share of Hawaii’s population rose from 14.7% in 1990 [1], to 17.5% in 2000 [1], to 17.8% in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  Hawaii was home to 229,348 immigrants in 2008 [2], which is more than the total population of Orlando, Florida [3].

• 53.0% of immigrants (or 121,656 people) in Hawaii were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2008 [2]—meaning that they are eligible to vote.

• 15.3% (or 75,329) of registered voters in Hawaii were “New Americans”—naturalized citizens or the U.S.-born children of immigrants who were raised during the current era of immigration from Latin America and Asia which began in 1965—according to an analysis of 2006 Census Bureau data by Rob Paral & Associates [4].

Nearly half of all Hawaiians are Asian or Latino.

• The Asian share of Hawaii’s population was 38.5% (or 495,956 people) in 2008 [2].  The Latino share of the population grew from 7.4% in 1990 [5] to 8.7% (or 112,073 people) in 2008 [2], according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Asians accounted for 43.5% (or 199,000) of Hawaii voters in the 2008 elections, and Latinos 3.3% (or 15,000) according to the U.S. Census Bureau [6].  

• In Hawaii, nearly nine-in-ten (or 89% of) children in immigrant families were U.S. citizens in 2007 [7], according to the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at the University of Albany.

Asian and Latino entrepreneurs and consumers add tens of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs to Hawaii’s economy.

• The 2009 purchasing power of Asians in Hawaii totaled $21.6 billion—an increase of 73.9% since 1990.  Latino buying power totaled $2.6 billion—an increase of 166.6% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth [8] at the University of Georgia.

• Hawaii’s 44,924 Asian-owned [9] businesses had sales and receipts of $12.6 billion and employed 92,218 people in 2002, the last year for which data is available.  The state’s 3,095 Latino-owned [10] businesses had sales and receipts of $482.6 million and employed 3,655 people in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.

Immigrants are essential to Hawaii’s economy as workers.

• Immigrants comprised 20.6% of the state’s workforce in 2008 [2] (or 144,408 workers), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Unauthorized immigrants are important to Hawaii’s economy as workers and consumers.

• Unauthorized immigrants comprised roughly 4.0% of the state’s workforce (or 25,000 workers) in 2008 [11], according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center.

• If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Hawaii, the state would lose $2.0 billion in economic activity, $900.3 million in gross state product, and approximately 8,460 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group [12].

Immigrants are integral to Hawaii’s economy as students.

• Hawaii’s 5,275 foreign students contributed $111.3 million to the state’s economy in tuition, fees, and living expenses for the 2008-2009 academic year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators [13].

Naturalized citizens advance educationally.

• The number of immigrants in Hawaii with a college degree increased by 15.1% between 2000 and 2008, according to data [14] from the Migration Policy Institute.

• In Hawaii, 69.7% of all children between the ages of 5 and 17 in families that spoke a language other than English at home also spoke English “very well” as of 2008 [14].

UPDATED: JULY 2010

Published On: Thu, Jul 08, 2010 | Download File [15]