Hawaii consumers are more optimistic about their economic well-being than at any point since the start of the 2008-2009 recession, according to a survey released Friday by the polling firm OmniTrak Group Inc.

OmniTrak’s Hawaii Resident Confidence Index registered 116 in December, its highest reading since 118 in January 2008.

"The years-long recovery, strong tourism sector and current environment of growth seem to have given residents more confidence in their economic prospects, at least for the foreseeable future," OmniTrak reported in its quarterly People’s Pulse publication.

However, the index is still below its peak of 151 recorded at the height of the last economic boom in 2005.

The survey also showed that residents’ concerns about the health of Hawaii’s economy continued to diminish. Of those surveyed, just 22 percent cited economic issues as their top concern at the end of 2013, down from a peak of 52 percent in 2010.

The survey results were based on an OmniTrak cellphone and land-line telephone poll of 700 adults statewide conducted between Dec. 3 and 23. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

The number of respondents citing public infrastructure and education as concerns is down sharply from 2010, while those citing housing and homelessness as a concern increased.

The poll also included questions about the value of a college education and a state initiative to modernize its information systems.

Of those surveyed, 45 percent said they felt a two- or four-year college degree was an "absolute necessity," up from 32 percent two years ago. Although the belief in a college education has strengthened from 2012, it is still lower than in the fall of 2006 before the recession when 49 percent of respondents considered it a necessity.

The state’s planned 12-year effort to upgrade its information systems at a cost of $100 million received broad support. Of those surveyed, 75 percent said modernizing the information services to make delivery of government services faster and easier was worth the expense. The support was strongest among Democrats (86 percent), followed by independents (73 percent) and Republicans (69 percent).