Honolulu had the 34th-best economic performance of the 100 biggest U.S. cities during the first quarter, according to a barometer of the health of metropolitan areas by the Brookings Institution.

Brookings’ MetroMonitor found that Honolulu was among cities with strong military and government employment that did well in the current economy, having lower average job losses than the national average.
Honolulu did well when it came to unemployment (10th lowest), number of bank-owned homes (5th fewest) and employment gains (30th best).
The city scored poorly in one-year percentage point change in unemployment rate, ranking 43rd for its 3.2 point rise. It also was 91st in change from the fourth quarter in average wages with Honolulu’s -0.3 percent change comparing with a 0.4 percent increase for the 100 cities.
The report also noted a potential problem area in that tourism-specialized metropolitan areas such as Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas have experienced relatively large employment declines.