Aloha State News

Unable to find jobs during the COVID-19 shutdown, some Hawaii residents are moving to the mainland.

That includes residents such as Daniel Jalomo, a 30-year-old catering company employee, who is moving to California, Hawaii News Now reports.

“You look at Craigslist every day, there’s no jobs,” Jalomo said.

Hawaii’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will be slower than other states because of its heavy dependence on tourism, said Carl Bonham, director of the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaii, the station reported.

“Opportunities will simply not exist here that will exist in the rest of the economy,” Bonham told a legislative committee, the story said. He also predicted Hawaii’s population could drop by 30,000 people next year because of the exodus.

For Jalomo, unemployment benefits are running out, adding, “I’m just riddled with anxiety, everything is so expensive here.” 

Also planning to flee the state is Tiana Romkee, 27, an esthetician and server, the story said.

“I have to work. I have to get some sort of assistance," she told the station. "We have to pay bills, you know, I’m missing payments left and right, so at this point it’s a matter of survival.” 

She is one of many Hawaiians with complaints about the state unemployment office.

The state opened a new call center last week to handle unemployment claims but citizens were still complaining about not being to get through on the phone. That includes Jeremy Merritt who has been struggling to get benefits since March, Hawaii News Now reported.

“I tried 40, 50 times and this new system was even more infuriating than the last," said Merritt, who had to leave a job at UPS because of a medical condition when COVID-19 hit Hawaii.

The call center opened with 50 employees but will be expanded to 200 by mid October, said state Labor Director Anne E. Perreira-Eustaquio.

Even with 200, “We’re probably still going to continue to see heavy workload,”  Perreira-Eustaquio told the station.