The financial industry is more concentrated in states like California and New York, but in Hawaii it still provides almost 21,000 job. However, higher shipping costs reduce demand in other sectors, reducing financial transactions that might be handled by Hawaii’s financial sector.

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Alternative view

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Higher import costs brought on by the Jones Act work their way through to Hawaii’s service industries. This is not just because of higher import prices for goods, but also because imports are converted into other products that are used by service industries such as banking. For example, petroleum is used to generate electricity in Hawaii, and higher petroleum import prices lead to higher electricity costs that flow through to the finance industry, leading to higher costs for banking services that would eventually be passed through to customers.

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Alternative view

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It is estimated that the Jones Act adds between $11 million and $37.6 million a year to the cost of banking and other financial services in Hawaii. This leads to an estimated loss of between 60 to 260 jobs in these sectors.

Alternative view

This data was the result of the groundbreaking independent new study produced by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, “Quantifying the cost of the Jones Act to Hawaii.”