When business owners and executives feel good about the economy, they often add new products, locations and employees. When they see a weak economy ahead, they tend to delay expansion, cut costs and hold off on filling job vacancies.
In the latest BOSS Survey, a little more than half the respondents said 2026 will be worse than 2025.
Of the 307 owners and executives across Hawaiʻi who participated in the poll conducted from Oct. 8 to Dec. 18, 51% said the economy would get worse. Only 17% thought the economy would improve and the remainder thought things would stay about the same. Those survey answers are the basis for the Optimism Index shown below (fig. 1).
In the 19 BOSS Surveys conducted from late 2016 to 2024, the Optimism Index averaged 111.5. In both surveys conducted during 2025, the results were far below that average.
To further understand the perception of the local economic climate, owners and executives were asked in the latest survey which of these statements best describes their spending plans for the coming year (fig. 2). Interestingly, there was an uptick among those who said their companies planned significant increases in spending. Nonetheless, far more said they planned substantial cost cutting…