The State of Gig Economy in Hawaii. Statistics and Trends [2022]

The sales and receipts from the gig work in Hawaii have increased over 45% in the last decade. Read along to get more insights on the trends for the rise of the freelance, independent and gig work in Hawaii.
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Updated Dec 9, 2022

The rise of the industrial economy in the 70s had the working population in Hawaii strive to get a full time job with an employer and show up for work. It has been the norm for decades, but if we study the shift in employment statistics closely, there is a big revolution in the making.

The working population in Hawaii is currently witnessing a post-industrial shift into a self dependent economy. Gen Z doesn’t want to fit in the industrial complex and look for flexibility and satisfaction in their job. 

How big is the gig economy workforce in Hawaii?

30% of the small business workforce in Hawaii work as independent workers.

Comparative analysis of gig economy and employment datasets for small businesses suggest a dramatic shift in how working population in Hawaii work: 30% of the small business workforce work as independent workers. In Hawaii there are 116,783 self employed gig workers ( freelancers and contractors ) compared to 272,459 salaried employees in small business payroll ( firms with less than 500 employees).

The gig economy workforce of self employed independent contractors, freelancers, also identified as non employer firms are becoming an important factor in Hawaii. As per the current 2019 NES ( released on June 30, 2022) there are 116,783 gig businesses in Hawaii, up from 92,126 in 2010. 


Year No. of gig workers Receipts ($billion)
2010 92,126 4
2011 94,118 4
2012 97,151 5
2013 98,490 5
2014 102,544 5
2015 104,707 5
2016 108,308 5
2017 111,003 5
2018 112,589 6
2019 116,783 6
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This increase in the gig worker population can be safely related to increase in employment opportunities created by the rise of online platforms such as Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, TaskRabbit.

Which industries contribute the most to the gig economy in Hawaii?

The sector " Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services " contributed the most whereas the lowest contribution came from Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction sector.

We aim to look at the distribution of gig economy workforce across broad 17 industry levels as defined under NAICS. As per the current 2019 NES ( released on June 30, 2022), there are 6 sectors with more than 10,000 gig workers. The sector " Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services " contributed the most with the number of gig workers as 16,664. The lowest contributor to the gig economy was the Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction sector with just 16 gig workers across Hawaii. The number of gig "businesses" according to the respective industry sectors is exhibited in the table below.

Exhibit 1


Industry Gig workers in 2010 Gig workers in 2019 Growth Growth (%)
Transportation and Warehousing 2,661 9,266 6,605 248
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 7,792 11,901 4,109 53
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 13,635 16,664 3,029 22
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 10,910 13,424 2,514 23
Construction 7,102 9,172 2,070 29
Retail Trade 8,637 10,602 1,965 23
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation 5,656 7,475 1,819 32
Educational Services 2,317 3,912 1,595 69
Health Care and Social Assistance 7,164 8,648 1,484 21
Accommodation and Food Services 1,550 2,683 1,133 73
Finance and Insurance 2,866 3,034 168 6
Utilities 83 202 119 143
Information 1,196 1,304 108 9
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction 20 16 -4 -20
Manufacturing 1,960 1,950 -10 -1
Wholesale Trade 2,433 2,324 -109 -4
Other Services (except Public Administration) 14,402 12,219 -2,183 -15
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The next important thing to analyze is change in the gig economy workforce across different industries over the last decade. This analysis will help us determine the true drivers in the rise of gig economy in Hawaii. Analysis of the data suggests that the biggest driver in the gig economy across Hawaii is the Transportation and Warehousingsector. The number of gig workers increased by 248% from 2,661 in 2010, increasing to 9,266 in the data from the current reference year NES 2019. 

For the same time period, the biggest loss of 2,183 was witnessed in the Other Services (except Public Administration) sector. The overall decline in this sector over the last decade was at 15%, witnessing a decrease to 12,219 ( in 2019 ) from 14,402 ( in 2010).

The change in the number of gig "businesses" according to the respective industry sectors over the data analysis of last 10 reference years in NES is exhibited in the table below.


County Gig workers in 2012 Gig workers in 2019 Growth Growth (%)
Honolulu 59,477 71,327 11,850 20
Maui 15,073 18,667 3,594 24
Hawaii 16,146 19,339 3,193 20
Kauai 6,455 7,450 995 15
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Which counties contribute the most to the gig economy in Hawaii?

The top 5 counties have 100% of the entire 116,783 gig workforce

Looking at the county distribution for the gig economy workers across Hawaii, the top 5 counties have 100% of the entire 116,783 gig workforce.

On the other hand the lowest contributing locations contribute approximately 100% of the state level gig workforce with 116,783 gig workers in total among them.


As expected, the top counties with the most number of gig workers are also the counties with the highest growth percentage of gig workers over the last decade. The best growth achieved is by Honolulu county, where the number of gig workers increased 20% from being 59,477 in 2016 to 71,327 in 2019 ( the latest reference year for NES as per the release on Jun 30 2022).


Growth in gig economy across all of the counties in Hawaii over the last decade

Who does gig work and what are the demographic profile of gig economy workers in Hawaii?

Across Hawaii, the number of male workers in gig economy stood at 58,000 compared to 49,000 female workers

Across Hawaii, the gig work runs through every demographic profile criteria. As some of the the gigs such as delivering packages, food, driving passengers have low entry barriers work has a low barrier to start with, a lot of younger and population that is not economically established tend to take up these gigs more than the rest of population.

To get more details, we analyzed the most current Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics. We found that across Hawaii, the number of male workers in gig economy stood at 58,000 compared to 49,000 female workers.


Demographic breakdown of gig economy workers, by gender, in Hawaii

The distribution on the basis of ethnicity was stark and the number of non hispanics in the gig workforce stood at 103,000 compared to 7,000 workers with ethnicity as hispanic.


Demographic breakdown of gig economy workers, by ethnicity, in Hawaii

On the basis of race the number of gig workers from the white population was found to be 54,000 compared to the 1,600 from black and 48,000 asian population.


Demographic breakdown of gig economy workers, by race, in Hawaii


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Neilsberg Research
Neilsberg Research team are data scientists with expertise in processing, analysis and visualization of big data helping small businesses make right decisions.

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