In retail news, economists say consumer spending is easing off, owing to slower job and wage gains, elevated borrowing rates and tight lending standards.
HONOLULU (Island News) — In retail news, economists say consumer spending is easing off, owing to slower job and wage gains, elevated borrowing rates and tight lending standards.
Here in Hawaii, some store owners worry the increases in the minimum wage just add to their ability to keep their doors open.
The state’s minimum wage will increase from $14 per hour to $16 per hour on Jan. 1, 2026, and to $18 per hour on Jan. 1, 2028. These are incremental step-ups required under a 2022 law, when the minimum wage was $12 per hour.
Hunter Long and Jillian Deolindo own Keep It Simple Honolulu. They have issues – not with the wage increases, but how the state dictated it.
“I absolutely support that. People need a livable wage. We also need a livable wage,” said Long. “But as a small business, especially after all of the economic events that have happened to small businesses in the last few years, small businesses are dropping like flies.”
They say there’s not a lot of support or measures to keep small businesses afloat.
“I foresee even more small businesses will be closing,” Hunter pronounced.
“Or even reducing hours, reducing days, getting virtual kiosks, trying to transition to online,” Deolindo added.
But economic justice advocates like Hawaii Children’s Action Network see it differently.
“Tens of thousands of minimum wage workers are our neighbors here in Hawaii. They rely on this wage to pay for their food, rent, and basic necessities and they’re feeling the pressure of higher prices just like anyone else,” said Research and Policy Director Nicole Woo.
Woo cites Aloha United Way’s survey in May that said “a single person with no kids needs $19.69 an hour just to survive here in Hawaii.”
Her group advocates for issues affecting children. She says 60% of minimum wage workers are women; a quarter of those are mothers.
“The increases for the minimum wage the last couple of years actually really helped keep some people from losing their apartments and falling into poverty and homelessness,” she stated.
Ironically, though, these small business owners have said if they can’t afford to stay open, they too may find themselves in a poverty situation.
Long and Deolindo say small businesses are important to the economic ecosystem.
“We have over 50 local brands in here. We’re not only supporting us, we’re supporting 50 different families on this island,” said Deolindo.
The store owners will raise their workers’ pay, while maybe finding themselves living paycheck to paycheck.
